Cornelia Marvin and Mary Frances Isom: Leaders of Oregon's Library Movement

Abstract

Free public libraries, and “modern ” library methods, arrived late in the Pacific Northwest. Two individuals were particularly influential in the introduction, growth, and professionalization of library service in the state of Oregon: Cornelia Marvin (later Pierce), of the Oregon Library Commission and the Oregon State Library (1905–28), and Mary Frances Isom of the Library Association of Portland (1901–20). This article will explore their relationship as leaders and colleagues during the early years of public library service in Oregon. Isom and Marvin frequently consulted one another on professional and personal questions, supporting each other as senior leaders of their institutions and as women in positions of power. Often working together, Isom and Marvin promoted tax-supported libraries throughout Oregon and the advantages of staffing them with formally trained librarians. Between them, they established the foundations for community and government support for libraries in the state. They contributed to creating a professional support system for librarians in the region as cofounders of the Pacific Northwest Library Association and were also active in the American Library Association. Their publications, reports, and surviving correspondence provide evidence of their extensive mutual support, opinions, actions, and decisions, as well as their professional development during their years as Oregon colleagues. To my thinking, a great librarian must have a clear head, a strong hand, and, above all, a great heart. He must have a head as clear as the master in diplomacy; a hand as strong as he who quells the raging mob or leads great armies on to victory; and a heart as great as he who, to save oth-

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