LHRT 75th Anniversary Gallery

Welcome to the celebration page for LHRT’s 75th Anniversary! Please choose from the slide shows below to learn more about LHRT’s history and its members. Please submit additional photos, as well as corrections or additions to the captions of the current photos, to lhrtnewsandnotes@gmail.com. Libraries: Culture, History, & Society will also be publishing remembrances from members in issues 7.1 and 7.2.

Want to celebrate by reading more about LHRT’s past? Lee Shiflett recounts LHRT’s formative years in The American Library History Round Table: The First Quarter Century. In addition, digitized issues of the LHRT newsletter are available back to 1996 on the ALA Institutional Repository.

  • A Few Early LHRT Leaders...
  • black-and-white photo of a man with hand on chin
    Louis Shores (Circa 1950). Image from ALA Archives. Shores gave the keynote address at LHRT’s founding in which he expressed this vision for library historians: “the chronicling of our professional achievement as manifested in the ever increasing dissemination of good ideas through libraries” (Quoted by Lee Shiflett in The American Library History Round Table: The First Quarter Century). Shores later launched the Journal of Library History (JLH) and the Library History Seminar.
  • black-and-white photo of a man
    Wayne Shirley (Circa 1950). Image from ALA Archives. Shirley chaired the fledgling round table for its first two decades and focused on celebrating the value that libraries brought to people. Along with Louis Shores and N. Orwin Rush, he “kept the cause of historical studies before the library community through a period of increasing emphasis on technological change in libraries and through a period where research in library and information science was increasingly dominated by models derived from the social sciences” (Lee Shiflett, The American Library History Round Table: The First Quarter Century).
  • 2 men in a library surrounded by book shelves, opening a book together, one on left wears a suit, one on right wear graduation regalia.
    N. Orwin Rush and John Mackay Shaw (1972). Image and caption from ALA Archives.
  • Black-and-white photo of a man
    Portrait of Dr. Edward Gailon Holley (November 26, 1927–February 18, 2010. Dr. Holley was a former ALA president and a revered scholar of library history. LHRT holds the Edward G. Holley Memorial Lecture each year to honor his legacy. This photo appeared in the LHRT Newsletter in 2010.
  • a black and white photo of a man with beard, glasses, 19th century suit
    LHRT has created several awards to honor library leaders of the past, including the Justin Winsor Award to recognize the best essay in English in library history. Image Description: Portrait of Justin Winsor, the first ALA President from 1876-1885 and 1897. Image and description from ALA Archives https://archon.library.illinois.edu/ala/index.php?p=digitallibrary/digitalcontent&id=924
  • a woman presenting at a podium, front of podium says "The Driskill"
    Marion Casey at the Library History Round Table’s Library History Seminar VI (1980).
  • 3 men in a semi-circle in deep thought & talking
    Group at the Library History Round Table’s Library History Seminar VI, including Donald Davis, David Davies and Felix Almaraz, Jr. (?). (1980).
  • a man and a woman at a table eating, smiling, and talking
    Robert Vosper and Elspeth Rostow at the Library History Round Table’s Library History Seminar VI (1980).
  • a woman presents at a podium with "The Driskill Hotel" inscribed on the front, 3 man sitting at chairs to the side, audience looks on
    Presentation at the Library History Round Table’s Library History Seminar VI, including Sam Whitten, Larry Sullivan, Pamela Spence Richards, and Gordon B. Weavill. (1980). Image and caption from ALA Archives.
  • man at a podium, mirror and plant in background
    Neil Harris at the Library History Round Table’s Library History Seminar VI (1980). Image and caption from ALA Archives.
  • a crowd mingling at a conference
    Coffee break during the Library History Round Table’s Library History Seminar VIII, including Jane Roseberg, Dr. McMullen, Donald Davis, and Marilyn Miller (1990).
  • black-and-white photo of 8 people posing in front of a people
    A group at the Library History Round Table’s Library History Seminar VIII (1990). Image and caption from ALA Archives.
  • group of people with cups conversing
    Coffee break during the Library History Round Table’s Library History Seminar VIII, including Jane Roseberg, Dr McMullen, Donald Davis, and Marilyn Miller (1990) Image and caption from ALA Archives.
  • 2 men across a table together, holding papers and pencils
    James Carmichael and Wayne Wiegand at the Library History Seminar VIII (1990). Image and caption from ALA Archives.
  • a poster session-style presentation. The title at the top left is "Anne Wallace and Southern Library Progrss, 1892-1908". Several panels have photographs with text blocks.
    Exhibit of James Carmichael’s paper at the Library History Seminar VIII (1990). Image and caption from ALA Archives.
  • 6 people at a dinner tablem drinking coffee?, 3 on one side and 3 on the other, enjoying themselves
    Marion Casey, John Cole, Margaret Rossiter, Paul Kaegbein, Laurel Grotzinger, and John Feather seated together during Library History Seminar VIII (1990). Image and caption from ALA Archives.
  • 6 people at a dinner table, man at left is talking while other look at him
    Dr. and Mrs. McMullen, David Kaser, Bobbie Lee Holley, Arthur Young, and Mary Kingsbury seated together during Library History Seminar VIII (1990). Image and caption from ALA Archives.
  • Title Slide: "New Century, New Milestones" against a background of historic books
  • LHRT members pose for a group photo.--the words "ALA Library History Round Table" are written above the group
    LHRT members pose for a group photo. Photo from the collection of Andrew Wertheimer.
  • a group sitting around a wooden table, sunlight comes through a window in the back, historical furniture and walls
    LHRT members often make time at the ALA conferences to visit historic libraries. In this photo, members visit the Folger Shakespeare Library. Picture by Andrew Wertheimer.
  • a group of people seated, watching a presentation. A panel of speakers with an image on the screen.
    LHRT Immigration History Panel. Photo by Andrew Wertheimer.
  • A group of happy people, sitting around a restaurant table smiling at the camera, in an area suffused in sunlight.
    “Dinner with Library Historians” (ALA Conference, 2019). Photo and title by Andrew Wertheimer.
  • Group of people sitting on 2 sides of a long table
    LHRT Dinner in 2014. Photo by Andrew Wertheimer.
  • woman at a podium with microphone
    Bernadette Lear presents at LHRT.
  • A gallery of 9 people, of various genders, races, ages
    LHRTers featured in the Member Spotlight, a blog column launched in 2022 by the Membership & Promotion Committee.
  • A b-and-w book cover showing two men sitting in front of a library window, one has a shotgun. The Cover says: Freedom Libraries: The Untold Story of Libraries for African Americans in the South, Mike Selby
    LHRT members have published a number of books about social justice in recent years, including this recent book by Mike Selby. Selby brought to light the story of the freedom libraries, collections created by activists in the South to provide library and information access to African-Americans. Many of these libraries were threatened or attacked by segregationists.
  • A crowd of people at rows of tables with laptops. Two large screens in fron of the audience. A panelp of people at the front of the room.
    American Library Association’s resolution, presented on the Council floor in 2018, apologizing for segregated libraries. Dr. Wayne Wiegand and other LHRT members lead a campaign for this apology, publishing books and articles that exposed the injustices of segregation. Photo by Andrew Wertheimer.
  • A couple smiling and standing together, wearing conference badges.
    LHRT recognizes the best in library history scholarship in several publishing formats. Margaret Hung received the LHRT Phyllis Dain Dissertation award in 2017 for her dissertation, “English Public Libraries, 1919-1975: Vocation and Popularisation” (Leeds Metropolitan University, 2015).
  • A professor standing behind a black table with microphones on it, talking to 2 conference attendees.
    Mary Niall Mitchell speaking to attendees after the LHRT Edward G. Holley Memorial Lecture in New Orleans (2018). Her presentation was entitled “Girl in a Frame: Enslaved People, Their Stories, and the Archives in the Digital Age.”
  • Two speakers smiling and sitting at a black table surrounded by microphones.
    Stephen Knowlton and Margaret Bausman at the LHRT Research Forum, American Library Association Conference, 2018.
  • A logo stating Library History Roundtable, Promoting Library History since 1947
    A former LHRT banner from the official web page, in use circa 2010.
  • A black-and-white photo of a crowd of people facing a presenter, banner in background says "New Orleans Public Library" and photos of a protest.
    Drs. Wayne and Shirley Wiegand lead a series of commemorative programs at public libraries to give long-overdue recognition to the brave protestors who fought to open the doors of libraries to all Americans. Pictured above is one of the programs, entitled “Hidden Figures in American Library History: The Desegregation of Public Libraries in the Jim Crow South,” at the New Orleans Public Library in 2018. Photo by Andrew Wertheimer.
  • a journal issue in the center with books and ipad interfiled "Libraries: Culture, History, and Society, Vol 11, No 1, 2017, The Pennsylvania State University Press." Photo of woman on left; photo of man on the right.
    In 2017, Bernadette Lear and Eric Novotny, Penn State University Libraries, co-founded LHRT’s scholarly journal, Libraries: Culture, History, & Society.
  • 3 African-American women against a backdrop of books, ADelina Coppin Alvarado, Clara S. Jones, Latanya N. Jenkins. A banner says "Black Librarians Project, Dr. Nicole A. Cooke, Project Editor"
    Dr. Nicole A. Cooke initiated and lead a highly successful project to document the often-overlooked contributions and stories of dozens of black women librarians through a special double issue of Libraries: Culture, History, & Society (vol. 6, issue 1, 2022) and a companion page in the “Specials” column on the blog. Featured above is a sampling of some of the librarians highlighted in the project.
  • a man at a podium with a microphone, a woman smiling to the side
    Dr. Wayne Wiegand at the podium, with Dr. Shirley Wiegand looking on, speaks at “Hidden Figures in American Library History: The Desegregation of Public Libraries in the Jim Crow South” in New Orleans (2018).
  • 2 women and 1 man at a black table with microphones. A "New Orleans Public Library" banner in the background.
    Celebrating the desegregation of the New Orleans Public Library (American Libraries) https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/blogs/the-scoop/desegregating-public-libraries/
  • two women at a podium, one has a laptop open on the podium
    Dr. Ana Ndumu and Ms. C. Kimmi Ramnine (University of Maryland iSchool) present “Libraries and the Americanization Crusade: A Biographical and Critical Study of John Foster Carr” at the LHRT Research Forum, “Walls, Wells, or Welcomes: Libraries in the Lives of Immigrants, Old and New,” at the 2019 ALA Conference in Washington DC.
  • a woman at a glass podium, with laptop to the side
    Dr. Shirley Wiegand speaks at the program, “Hidden Figures In American Library History: The Desegregation of Public Libraries in the Jim Crow South,” in New Orleans in 2018. An image of civil rights protestors appears on the screen in the background.
  • a woman at a glass podium speaking
    One of the heroes of American library integration, Dr. Joan Daniel, speaks at the “Hidden Figures” program in New Orleans in 2018. Dr. Daniel was one of the “Greenville Eight” who engaged in a sit-in at the Greenville Public Library (South Carolina) on July 16, 1960.
  • a woman speaking at a podium
    Dean Ethel Sawyer Adolphe shares her experiences as one of the “Tougaloo Nine” that engaged in a sit-in at the Jackson Public Library (Mississippi) on March 27, 1961.
  • a man at a podium, holding papers
    Eric Novotny presents “Historical Responses to Immigration: Using New Technology to Explore Old Questions” at the LHRT Research Forum, “Walls, Wells, or Welcomes: Libraries in the Lives of Immigrants, Old and New,” at the 2019 ALA Conference in Washington DC.