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William Warner Bishop

William Warner Bishop
Born July 20, 1871
Hannibal, Missouri
Died February 19, 1955 (1955-02-20) (aged 83)
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Education M.A. in Classics
Alma mater University of Michigan
Occupation Librarian, Writer, Lecturer

William Warner Bishop (July 20, 1871 – February 19, 1955) was an American librarian who is credited and remembered for his work organizing and cataloging the Vatican Archives, his time served working with the American Library Association, as well as his support of academic libraries He has the honor of being named one of the most influential librarians in American history.

William Warner Bishop was born in Missouri in 1871; he relocated to Detroit, Michigan, when he was seven years old. Bishop went on to obtain his undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan in Classics in 1892 and then earned his master's degree the following year. He taught Greek and Latin from the time he graduated until 1902 (Sparks, 1978). He was an instructor at Missouri Wesleyan College, Garrett Biblical Institute in Evanston, Illinois and even had the opportunity to spend a year in Rome between 1898-1899 studying Greek and Latin. While he taught he usually worked part-time in the academic libraries (Kaser, 1956). He originally thought that he would like to have a career in education but found himself instead drawn to a career working to improve the quality of library services (Sparks, 1978). Bishop went on to work at Princeton University where he was in charge of cataloging and was also as librarian from 1902-1907 (Sparks, 1978). He then worked as superintendent of the reading room at the Library of Congress during the years spanning 1905-1915 (Sparks, 1978). During this time Bishop married his wife Finie Murfree Burton in 1907. He and Finie had a son, William Warner Bishop Jr. Bishop accepted the position as director of Michigan Libraries in 1915. The University remained his primary place of employment until he retired in 1941. He worked as not only a Director but he also worked to help create a Library Science program of study which became a reality in 1926 (Sparks, 1993).

Bishop was a member of the American Library Association having joined in 1896 (Bishop, 1949). It was here that he became interested in helping the library system to serve people as productively as possible. He worked as a part of many committees where he also had the honor of presenting countless scholarly papers that he wrote in regard to the controversial topics of the day (Bishop, 1951). Bishop also wrote several books some of these are: Practical Handbook of Modern Library Cataloging, (first edition 1914 and second edition 1924); Cataloging as an Asset, (1916); The Backs of Books and Other Essays in Librarianship, (1926); Carnegie Corporation and College Libraries. (1929–38)…” (Sparks, 1978, p.33). He was elected President of the ALA in 1918. When his one year term as president was completed he went on to serve as “…president of the Bibliographical Society of America in 1921-23 and in 1931 President of the International Federation of Library Associations… In 1928 he became chairman of the Advisory Group on College Libraries of Carnegie Corporation…” (Kaser, 1956, p. 52).


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