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I've been writing about Elisabeth Shoemaker for the past few weeks. She was the librarian during World War Two who helped and led the local Victory Book Campaign, providing reading materials for the troops.
I've listed Edward Cole as the "first" librarian in 1802 but Miss Shoemaker was "the first." Originally from Waynesboro, Miss Shoemaker graduated from Juniata College and then from Columbia University School of Library Science. She worked at the Huntingdon County Library before taking the director position at the newly formed Mifflin County Library.
A little bit about that. Prior to 1941, we had the Lewistown Library. There were also little libraries "around." There were collections of books at post offices, country stores, playgrounds, the YMCA, and in individual homes where people loaned their books. I found this information in an article from Oct. 25, 1941. The books were haphazard, there was no order to it; if you wanted to read the newest Agatha Christie, you may not have been able to borrow it because there was no librarian to buy it.
The state of Pennsylvania (and other states) understood this. They made a concerted effort to organize all of the tiny libraries into one county library that had branch libraries, or stations as they were called in the 1930s and 1940s. All under the leadership of a county librarian. This was the depression after all. County-wide library service meant free library service for everyone. And, of course, there are rules to follow just as there are rules now.
The librarian had to have a library science degree and the library had to have a library board of directors. The library also had to have the financial support of the county commissioners. Miss Evelyn Matthews from the State Library in Harrisburg met with the county commissioners at the time (in October 1941 to be exact) and helped the library board secure county funding and in turn, they secured state aid and the Lewistown Library was incorporated into the Mifflin County Library.
Several groups helped to make this a reality, including the Mifflin County Council of Parents and Teachers as well as the Lewistown Rotary Club. Miss Matthews worked with these groups to organize the library on Third Street and "to reorganize the books now in the library under a modern catalogue system." This must mean the Dewey Decimal System that we still use today.
The next step was to hire a director with a library science degree and that was Elisabeth Shoemaker.
Miss Matthews stayed on for a little while to help organize the library. The library that was at the YMCA gave its collection of books, numbering at 2,500, to help the growing Mifflin County Library. Miss Shoemaker still needed help. She wrote a letter to the local WPA for a clerk/typist. The WPA was the Works Progress Administration that employed 8.5 million people on public projects.
Again, it was the Great Depression and people needed a job. The government paid the salaries of these workers. Miss Shoemaker needed someone to type up library catalog cards because the staff that she had didn't know how to type. Wow! They didn't know how to type and many of us today type with our thumbs only.
Miss Shoemaker started in November 1941 and resigned in November of 1943. I was shocked when I read that. The newspaper article announcing her resignation stated that "the climate had affected her health." The resignation became effective on Jan. 3, 1944, however she was granted a month's leave and left in December. Miss Shoemaker accomplished much to lay the groundwork for what the Mifflin County Library is today.
I don't know what happened to her after 1944 but I think I found her grave. She is buried in Waynesboro with her parents. She was born in 1914. When she came to Lewistown, she would have been 27 years old. Miss Shoemaker died in 1973.
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Susan Miriello is the Executive Director of the Mifflin County Library. She has just borrowed The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donohue, but hasn't started reading it yet.