Althea Hester Warren (December 18, 1886December 19, 1958) was the director of the Los Angeles (California) Public Library from 1933 to 1947 and president of the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members ...

in 1943-1944. Martha Boaz,
Fervent and Full of Gifts: The Life of Althea Warren
' (New York: Scarecrow Press, 1961); Dorothy Drake and Virginia Milbank Fromme, ''Althea Warren, Librarian,'' N.P.: California Library Association, 1962, and "Happy 125th Birthday, Althea Warren," ''Library History Buff,'' as cited at California History Hall of Fame: Althea Warren She was inducted into the California Library Association's Library Hall of Fame in 2013.

Biography and career

Warren was born on December 18, 1886 in

Waukegan, Illinois ''(Fortress or Trading Post)'' , image_flag = , image_seal = , blank_emblem_size = 150 , blank_emblem_type = Logo , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivisi ...

, to Lansing Warren and Emma Blodgett. She attended the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

from 1904 to 1908. After traveling abroad in Europe, Warren started library school at the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...

, graduating in 1911. She was a branch manager in a "poor neighborhood" in the

Chicago Public Library The Chicago Public Library (CPL) is the public library system that serves the City of Chicago in the U.S. state of Illinois. It consists of 81 locations, including a central library, two regional libraries, and branches distributed throughout the ...

system, and she also managed a branch in the Sears, Roebuck store in that city, which served the store's employees. In 1914 she relocated with her family to San Diego, California, and during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

she helped furnish books to soldiers at Camp Kearny, California, outside of San Diego. She worked in the

San Diego Public Library The San Diego Public Library is a public library system serving the city of San Diego, California. History The San Diego Public Library was established on May 19, 1882, by an elected board of library trustees, one of whom was civic leader a ...

system and was the head librarian there from 1916 to 1926. She moved to the Los Angeles Public Library in the latter year, having been chosen to oversee all the system's branch libraries. In 1933 she became LAPL head librarian, one of six women overseeing large public libraries in the United States at that time. In November 1941, Warren, who was considered "#1 in the field of Women Librarians," took a leave from her Los Angeles job to become director of the ALA's National Defense Book Campaign, which sought to collect and organize distribution of books to American servicemen. The campaign, headquartered in New York City, eventually became known among her closest friends as "Warren's child."Molly Guptill Manning, ''When Books Went to War'' (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014), Warren was California Library Association president in 1921 and

(ALA) president in 1943-1944. She worked on the national level to increase federal aid to libraries and to end discrimination faced by African American librarians at ALA conference hotels. Warren retired in 1947 and then taught in

library science Library science (often termed library studies, bibliothecography, and library economy) is an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary field that applies the practices, perspectives, and tools of management, information technology, education, an ...

programs in Wisconsin and Michigan and at the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

Personal life

Warren was gay. She and Gladys English, the Los Angeles Public Library's head of the Children's Department, were in love, (Orlean, ''The Library Book'', pg. 197), living and traveling together for years. After

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

died, Warren created the American Library Association's Gladys English Memorial Collection, also called the Gladys English Collection.

References

External links

Althea B. Warren Papers, 1942-1945, The American Library Association Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Warren, Althea 1886 births 1958 deaths People from Waukegan, Illinois University of Chicago alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Library and Information Studies alumni Presidents of the American Library Association American librarians American women librarians University of Southern California faculty LGBT people from Illinois American women academics