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University of Idaho Library Administration records

 Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: UG 50

Scope and Contents

The records of the first four Library Administrators and two assistant administrators span the years 1906 to 1990.

Included in each official's records are correspondence and memos, minutes of meetings, budget preparation materials and other financial records. Material such as scrapbooks of clippings about the library and microfilm of the library shelf list which are not connected to a specific administration are in the final series.

Dates

  • Creation: 1905-1990

Language of Materials

This collection is in English.

Biographical / Historical

Directors of the University of Idaho Library

John E. Bonebright was hired as a math and physics instructor by the university in 1893; added to these duties was the position of "librarian". When he went to full time teaching in the fall of 1896 he was replaced by Stella Maud Allen, an 1896 graduate of the University. She organized the collection and began classifying books according to the Dewey Decimal system. Allen resigned in 1899 and Margaret B. McCallie, an 1898 graduate of the University was appointed as her successor. McCallie resigned in October 1905. The library's first professionally trained head was M. Belle Sweet who assumed her position in November 1905, just months before the March 30, 1906 fire destroyed the administration building which housed the library. Sweet rebuilt the collection and remained as head librarian for 43 years, until her retirement in 1948. She was followed by Lee Zimmerman, 1948-1967, Warren Owens, 1968-1986, Eileen Hitchingham, 1987-1990, and Ron Force, 1990 to present. Associate Director Richard Beck served as interim head of the library between Zimmerman and Owens and again between Owens and Hitchingham. Beck's position was head of Public Services while Assistant Director Stanley Shepard was head of Technical Services.

Extent

23 cubic feet

Abstract

Correspondence, memos, budget planning material and other records of library directors and assistant directors.

Arrangement

The records of M. Belle Sweet and Lee Zimmerman were in file cabinets and retain their received arrangement. The records of Warren Owens and Eileen Hitchingham were transferred to Special Collections at various times during and after their administrations and were put in alphabetical order during processing. The papers of Richard Beck and Stan Shepard which were sometimes in their own accession and sometimes in the files of the administrator were placed together and arranged alphabetically. Therefore, each official has his or her own alphabetical file; original folder headings were retained. Occasionally the material from one administration will overlap into the next administration.

Each director has his or her own series. The records of M. Belle Sweet are important in that they are the first records of the library extant, the previous records having been destroyed in the 1906 fire. It appears from typed notes in some of the folders that the papers were arranged after her departure and that some material was discarded. Copies of outgoing correspondence from 1906-1915 are in three letterpress books.

The papers of Lee Zimmerman may also have been sorted and arranged shortly after his retirement. The are arranged in broad subject areas, with specific related areas following. The first section of correspondence is an A-Z arrangement, with a few folders with specific names inserted. In the second correspondence section each folder has a specific organizational name. The university departmental correspondence is arranged by college, then department; in the following inventory the name of the college is underlined. A number of folders in this series concern the planning of the new library building which opened in 1957.

The papers of Warren Owens are in a single alphabetical file. In addition to library related correspondence, memos, budgets, etc., the records of his administration include references to the Barnard-Stockbridge photograph collection, the Basque book collection, and the founding of ICOSAL (Idaho Council of State Academic Libraries).

Likewise, the papers of Eileen Hitchingham are in a single alphabetical file. Her records contain material relating to the University centennial celebration in 1989, as well as the usual library related correspondence and committee minutes.

The records of Associate Director Richard Beck, and Assistant Director Stanley Shepard are in Series V; each has his own sub-series. Beck was Associate Director for Public Services and his records include the staff attitude survey, committee records, and memos. Many of his papers are included in the records of the several directors under which he served.

Stanley Shepard was Assistant Director for Technical Services. Some of his correspondence concerns arrangements with commercial binderies, committees looking into the problems of conversion to the Library of Congress cataloging system and other technical services committees, his work on ILA and PNLA Bibliography and Publications committees and his membership on the University of Idaho ROTC/Officer Education committee.

Series VI contains material not identified with a specific administrator. Included are bound volumes of library expenditures from 1931 to 1956 (lacking only the records for 1946-1948), faculty and staff handbooks, library guides, the periodicals printout in microfiche form from 1978-1987, the microfilm of the library shelflist done in 1973 with the 1978 supplement, Robert Hook's notes for his history of the library which he wrote in 1972, and five scrapbooks, 1950 to 1988, with articles relating to the university library.

Monthly financial records were discarded. To preserve confidentiality of personnel records including applications and evaluations, and because the Human Resources Office of the University is the official repository of such records, the library's copies of these records were destroyed. Likewise time cards and other material concerning student workers was discarded. This reduced the records by 30 cubic feet. In 2024, an additional bankers box of material was added to the collection from Stanley Shepard. Due to the location of Shepard's previous materials within the collection, it was decided to create a new series but leave the previous material where it was. Within the box, materials were transferred to new foldersd during processing. Materials are arranged by topic. Some folders are separated into two sections, all relating to similar topics. These materials are from Shepards time at the University and prior (1942-1984).

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The records of the Library Directors from Belle Sweet to Eileen Hitchingham were transferred to University of Idaho Library Special Collections between 1970 and 1996. Stanley Shepard donated material on 12 November 1984.

Title
Guide to the University of Idaho Library Administration Records 1905-1990
Status
Completed
Author
Finding aid prepared by Judith Nielsen and updated by Laura Guedes; updated in 2024 by Megan Wood and Kelley Moulton.
Date
© 1997, 2011, 2024
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latn
Language of description note
Finding aid is in English
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Repository Details

Part of the University of Idaho Library, Special Collections and Archives Repository