Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Preliminary Inventory to the American Library Association War Service Records, 1917-1923
73025
No online items
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Title: American Library Association War Service records,
Date (inclusive): 1917-1923
Collection number: 73025
Creator:
American Library Association. War Service
Collection Size:
1 manuscript box, 33 envelopes
(3.7 linear feet)
Repository:
Hoover Institution Archives
Stanford, California 94305-6010
Abstract: Photographs, postcards, blueprints, insignia, and reports, relating to the work of the American Library Association War Service
in providing library buildings, books, and librarians, for American military servicemen in the United States and overseas
during World War I.
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Archives
Language:
English
Collection open for research.
The Hoover Institution Archives only allows access to
copies of audiovisual items. To listen to sound recordings or to view videos or films during your visit, please contact the Archives
at least two working days before your arrival. We will then advise you of the accessibility of the material you wish to see
or hear. Please note that not all audiovisual material is immediately accessible.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Archives.
[Identification of item], American Library Association War Service records, [Box no.], Hoover Institution Archives.
In June 1917, shortly after the United States entered into World War I, the American Library Association (ALA) convened a
War Service Committee to distribute library materials to American soldiers. This committee oversaw what was to become known
as the Library War Service program. Under the leadership of Librarian of Congress Herbert Putnam, the program effectively
demonstrated the importance of ALA membership, while at the same time showing the value of collaboration with other military
and welfare agencies, such as the YMCA, YWCA, and the Red Cross. Moreover, it successfully raised more than five million dollars
in public donations, as well as securing Carnegie Corporation funds. With these funds and donations, the Library War Service
program established thirty-six camp libraries, distributed approximately ten million books and magazines, and sponsored 1,100
library workers for the war effort.
The ALA's war work had lasting legacies: the formation of the American Library in Paris, the establishment of the American
Merchant Marine Library Association, the garnering of greater concern with international library development, and the assimilation
of the wartime programs by the military departments and other government agencies. Additionally, the Library War Service
instituted new library services, such as Braille text and books by mail.
After World War I, the program continued to operate under the auspices of the Enlarged Program, which focused on three areas:
(1) continuation of war-related activity, (2) constitutional revision, and (3) new programs, which included increased expenditures
for publicity, promotion of higher salaries for librarians, initiation of special services to immigrants, and creation of
a board to set standards for library schools. The Enlarged Program never fully came to fruition; however, the ALA made inroads
for the library profession as a whole during this period, particularly in terms of its visibility.
The ALA was founded in Philadelphia in 1876, and later chartered in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It was established
to promote the profession of librarianship, to improve library and information services, and, more generally, to enhance learning
and access to information for all people. The ALA is comprised of an elected council, which makes policies, and an executive
board, which enforces policies. In addition, the ALA functions through a network of affiliates, chapters, and other organizations,
such as the Merritt Humanitarian Fund, the National Forum on Information Literacy, and the Sister Libraries.
Scope and Content of Collection
Photographs, postcards, blueprints, insignia, and reports, relating to the work of the American Library Association War Service
in providing library buildings, books, and librarians, for American military servicemen in the United States and overseas
during World War I.
United States. Army. American Expeditionary Forces.
Libraries.
World War, 1914-1918.
World War, 1914-1918--War work.
World War, 1914-1918--United States.
United States--Armed Forces.