Soviet-American Librarian Intersections: Harriet
G. Eddy, First California County Library
Organizer and the California Unified Library Plan
John Richardson Jr., PhD
UCLA Professor of Information Studies
Moscow, 4 September 2006
Harriet G. Eddy
HGE Early Chronology
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Born in Lexington, Michigan on 19/II/1879;
grew up in Adrian, Michigan
B.A., classical studies, Albion College, 1896
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Delta Gamma, fraternity member
Post-graduate study, University of Chicago,
1901-1903
Studied in Europe; Teacher in Michigan and
Montana
High School Principal in Elk Grove, California
HGE’s Librarianship
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Progressive Reform Acts
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The Library Acts of 1909 and 1911
Elk Grove Union High School (CA) Library
California Library Association
Political Connections
James L. Gillis, CA State Librarian
 Hiram W. Johnson, CA Governor
and United States Senator
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HGE’s Modesty
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“By profession I was a high school teacher….I was
asked to tell about it at the state library convention and
at once the State Librarian [Gillis] asked me to join his
staff and organize county libraries. When I said, ‘But I
am a teacher, not an organizer.’ He said, ‘It will be the
same thing. You will teach the county officials how to
establish one.’ It seems so simple that I agreed, and
thus became another ‘First’, the first county organizer
in California, and probably in the U.S.A.”
Command and Control (C2)
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Command center (i.e., California State Library)
Financial Resources
 Library Materials
 Professional Knowledge
 Vision and Mission
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Effectiveness of organization (i.e., county level)
Structure versus Decentralization
 Close Communication
 Ad Hoc Advice and Consultation
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40 of 58 California Counties
Free County Library System
“The County was the unit;
 The supervisors were ex officio the library board;
 A trained, certificated county librarian was appointed
 with salary fixed by law;
 Headquarters at the county seat;
 Branches were established throughout the county;…
 The Union Catalog assured supplementary service.”
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SOURCE: County Free Library Organizing in California
1909-1918, p. 21
HGE’s Talents and Characteristics
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Liberally educated, but modest
Politically astute enough to get “resolutions of intention”
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Adventurous and persevering
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Women’s clubs, Elected officials (Mayor, Town and City Councils,
County Supervisors, Attorneys General), Chambers of Commerce,
Granges, City Library Boards, Newspaper editors, Largest taxpayers,
PTAs, Improvement Clubs, Business Men’s Clubs
Bad roads, bus, stage coach, steamer, row boat, horseback
Labor union sympathizer (the 1916 Tom Mooney
Question—serving prison time; guilty or innocent?)
Pacifist tendencies expressed in late 1930s
Opposition and Resistance to
Organizing Efforts
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Monopoly (only one library in the state)
Loss of individuality— “being absorbed”
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Chance for graft (in library purchases)
Increased tax rate or levy:
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Professional envy or jealousy from city librarians
California State Library would appoint only Eddy’s friends
North-South rivalry
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Assessment evaluation: mill on $1 or 2 cents on $100
Too high pay rate for county librarians ($2K as per law)
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in terms of collections
Water from Inyo County
Part of Sacramento’s county library machine
“The Outsider”
“A special person…”
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Anatol V. Lunacharsky, Commissioner of
Education (1917-1929), invites HGE to Russia
due to the Sacramento Star’s newspaper
reporter’s previous Moscow trip—of
Lunacharsky, she says he’s “rated one of the
most brilliant men in Europe”
23 January 1927 to August 1927 in Russia
Anatol V. Lunacharsky
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SOURCE: wwww.wikipedia.com
All-Union Lenin Memorial Library
Nadezhda Konstantinovna
Krupskaya
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“Loveliest smile we have seen in Russia. The
most intelligent, kind face, too. Made me think
at once of Mr. Gillis [former California State
Librarian]. Looks like him. Acts like him. She’s
big [two underscores].”
Genrietta K . Abele-Derman
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“I enjoy her very much as she has a good head
and is absolutely open-minded”
Anatol V. Lunacharsky
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13 July 1927: “Thanked me in name of Russia for
coming. Said suggestions would be followed as fast as
possible” (Box 2487, folder 6) or “The plan is good for
the Soviet Union and we will adopt it as fast as
possible” whereupon she remarked “which means
never unless you send a person to California to observe
the system in action” on page [6] of “Spread of
Influence” or on 5 August: “He thanked me most
heartily in the name of Russia for coming, and said my
articles and report would be given widest publicity, and
that the suggestions would be carefully studied and put
into use as fast as possible.” (Box 2493, folder 10).
Anna G. Kravchenko in USA
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Autumn 1928, Anna G. Kravchenko visits California
(Alameda, Fresno, Contra Costa, Monterey, Los
Angeles, San Bernardino, and Solano counties) due to
influence of Senator Johnson, former Governor of
California when the Library Act passed; she writes
“Toward an Integrated and Large Library Economy”
(Moscow, 1929)
Herbert Putnam “is against the general plan in the
library work. He preferred, like he told me ‘individual’
libraries. He against the one system for whole U.S.”
Orechovo-Zuevo Efforts
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November-December 1929, Anna Kravchenko
organizes Orechovo-Zuevo
Her strategy is to get trade union libraries
unified into the municipal system, in turn, other
municipal libraries into the rayon system, and
then other libraries into this system.
Eddy Returns in 1930-1931
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This time to teach in the Library Institute
(located at Moxovaja 6 in Khimki, 18 miles from
downtown Moscow)
See “The Library Institute,” a 29-page photoessay;
and staying at the Hotel Savoy, Room 334 (“The
Legend of Russian Hospitality” set in neoclassical architectural style
The Institute (MGUKI at Khimki)
“The Beginnings of Unified Library
Service in the U.S.S.R.” (1932)
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Library Journal 57 (15 January 1932): 61-67.
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Written “in collaboration with Mrs. [Genrietta
K. Abele-] Derman (1882-1954), director of first
Library University,” and Mrs. [Anna]
Kravtchenko (sic), Department of Education of
Russia and director of the Institute of Library
Science, p. 61; note the 5 photographs
Acknowledgements
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UCLA’s ASCOR international travel funding;
Dr. Edward Kasinec, NYPL Slavic Collection;
Dr. Cindy Mediavilla, UCLA Department of Information Studies
and California State Library;
Mr. Gary Strong, University Librarian at UCLA;
John R. Gonzales and Gary Kurutz, California History Room,
CSL, Sacramento;
Matt Weflen, University of Chicago Registrar’s Office, Chicago;
Paige Berry, Harriet G. Eddy Middle School, Elk Grove,
California;
Elena V. Valinovskaya, NNZ.RU; and
Robert and Vivianne Younker of Lincoln, CA.