Melvil Dewey
| Melvil Dewey | |
|---|---|
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| Born |
Melville Louis Kossuth Dewey December 10, 1851 Adams Center, New York |
| Died | December 26, 1931 (aged 80) Lake Placid, Florida |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Melvil Dewey Melvil Dui |
| Education | Amherst College |
| Occupation | librarian, resort developer, reformer |
| Known for | Dewey Decimal Classification |
| Spouse(s) | Annie R. Godfrey (1878) Emily McKay Beal (1924) |
| Relatives | Godfrey Dewey (son) |
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Melville Louis Kossuth (Melvil) Dewey (December 10, 1851 – December 26, 1931) was an American librarian and educator, inventor of the Dewey Decimal system of library classification, and a founder of the Lake Placid Club.
Dewey was born in Adams Center, New York, the fifth and last child of Joel and Eliza Greene Dewey. He attended rural schools and determined early that his destiny was to reform education of the masses. He briefly attended Alfred University (1870), then Amherst College, where he belonged to Delta Kappa Epsilon, and from which he earned a bachelor's degree in 1874 and a master's in 1877.
While still a student, he founded the Library Bureau, which sold high-quality index-cards and filing-cabinets, and established the standard dimensions for catalog cards.
As a young adult he advocated spelling reform; he changed his name from the usual "Melville" to "Melvil", without redundant letters, and for a time changed his surname to "Dui".
From 1883 to 1888 he was chief librarian at Columbia University. During his time as director of the New York State Library (1888–1906) Dewey established a program of traveling libraries. From 1888 to 1900 Dewey served as secretary and executive officer of the University of the State of New York. In 1895 Dewey founded the Lake Placid Club with his wife Annie. He and his son Godfrey had been active in arranging the Winter Olympics which took place at Lake Placid—he chaired the New York State Winter Olympics Committee. In 1926 he went to Florida to establish a new branch of the Lake Placid Club.
Dewey established a pattern of making powerful enemies early in life, and many of his friends found him difficult as well. As one biographer put it, "Although he did not lack friends, they were weary of coming to his defense, so endless a process it had become." Another biography refers to Dewey's "old nemesis—a persistent inability to control himself around women" as a chronic cause of trouble on the job. Indeed, when Dewey opened his School of Library Economy at Columbia College to women it was rumored that he asked for their bust sizes with their applications. Though the rumor turned out to be false he did require a photograph from each female applicant since "you cannot polish a pumpkin." However, there is no archival evidence that he acted in any way inappropriate with his female students. In 1905 during a 10-day trip to Alaska sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA), a group he co-founded, he made unwelcome advances on four prominent librarians who informed Association officials. As a result, Dewey was ostracized from the ALA.
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