Minneapolis Public Library World War II Correspondence
Description of Contents
This collection consists of letters written to Minneapolis Public Library staff during World War II from 1942 to 1945. The authors are chiefly former library employees, both men and women, who were in active military service. The Reference Department Correspondence series forms the bulk of the collection, with most letters addressed to department heads Genevieve MacDonald and Elizabeth Bond. The Margaret Fletcher Correspondence series contains letters addressed to an art department librarian.
Dates
- 1942 - 1945
Creator
- Nolan, T.J. (Person)
- Leonard, Wayne C. (Person)
- Bolin, John Walter (Person)
- Grover, Arnold L. (Person)
- Gilbertson, Helen (Person)
- Tollefsrud, Warren (Person)
Access Restrictions
The collection is available for use in Special Collections during the department's open hours.
History
The Minneapolis Public Library was established in 1885, and the first library building opened on December 16, 1889. During World War II, library activities reflected the national war effort. Many library patrons and employees left the library for military service and wartime work. Circulation of books for adults diminished, while programming for children and war-related reference inquiries increased.
In the early war years, Genevieve MacDonald led the library's reference department. MacDonald, a close friend of longtime library director Gratia Countryman, started with the library in 1928 after completing library school at New York's Pratt Institute. She retired as head of reference department on September 1, 1942.
MacDonald's replacement, Elizabeth Bond, was also a veteran Minneapolis Public Library employee. Bond joined the library in 1925 and led the reference department from 1942 into the 1950s. Bond retired as the library's public relations officer in 1966.
Margaret Fletcher, formerly librarian at the Loring School, joined the library's art department as a junior assistant in 1943. Fletcher was the first special assistant in charge of the library's Visual Aids Service (including films, slides, and stereographs). She resigned in 1955 to move to California to marry Richard Murrell.
Extent
0.21 Linear Feet (1 box)
Language of Materials
English
Donor Information
The collection was transferred internally from the Hennepin County library in 2005.
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Jenna Himsl in March 2018.
- Bond, Elizabeth
- Fletcher, Margaret
- Hennepin County Library Institutional Archive Collections Subject Source: Local sources
- MacDonald, Genevieve
- Minneapolis Public Library
- Minnesota World War II Collections Subject Source: Local sources
- Soldiers -- Minnesota -- Correspondence. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Correspondence. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Title
- Minneapolis Public Library World War II Correspondence
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Jenna Himsl
- Date
- March 2018
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Hennepin County Library Special Collections Repository
Minneapolis Central Library
300 Nicollet Mall
Minneapolis MN 55401 U.S.A.
612-543-8200
specialcoll@hclib.org
