Charles Evans (November 13, 1850February 8, 1935) was an American librarian and
bibliographer
Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliography ...
.
Evans was named one of ''
American Libraries
''American Libraries'' is the flagship magazine of the American Library Association (ALA).
About
''American Libraries'' was first published in 1970 as a continuation of the long-running ''ALA Bulletin,'' which had served as the Association’s ...
'' 100 most important
library and information science
Library and information science(s) or studies (LIS) is an interdisciplinary field of study that deals generally with organization, access, collection, and protection/regulation of information, whether in physical (e.g. art, legal proceedings, e ...
leaders of the 20th century.
Evans is most well known as the bibliographer and compiler of the first 12 volumes of his book, ''American Bibliography: A Chronological Dictionary of All Books, Pamphlets, and Periodical Publications Printed in the United States of America from the Genesis of Printing in 1639 Down to and Including the Year 1830, with Bibliographical and Biographical Notes''. He was also a founder 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 a ...
along with
Melvil Dewey
Melville Louis Kossuth "Melvil" Dewey (December 10, 1851 – December 26, 1931) was an influential American librarian and educator, inventor of the Dewey Decimal system of library classification, a founder of the Lake Placid Club, and a chief lib ...
.
Biography
Early life
The son of Irish immigrants Charles Peter and Mary Ewing Evans, Evans was born in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, Massachusetts, on November 13, 1850.
Evans' parents both died before he was ten years old, at which point Evans and eventually his older brother, Thomas John, were sent to live and study at the Boston Asylum and Farm School for Indigent Boys on
Thompson Island.
Evans was so grateful for the education he received here, that decades later he donated a copy of each volume of his ''American Bibliography'' to the school, with an inscription from "an old Farm School boy." In this donation, he is quoted as saying that because of the Boston Asylum and Farm School, he came to value and live by “obedience, fidelity, individual character and industry. Possessed of these, there is nothing which may not be obtained in life”.
["Charles Evans." Contemporary Authors Online. Gale, 2004. Web. 18 Sept. 2009. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC.] In 1914, Evans was invited back to address students and guests at the school's 100th anniversary celebration.
Early stages of Evans' career
Evans studied under
Samuel Eliot
Samuel Eliot (December 22, 1821 – September 14, 1898) was an American historian, educator, and statesman of Boston, Massachusetts and Hartford, Connecticut.
Biography
Eliot was born in Boston, the son of William Havard Eliot (1796 - 1 ...
—a trustee of the
Boston Athenaeum
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most ...
—at the Boston Asylum and Farm School, and made such an impression on him that by the time Evans turned 16, on June 12, 1866, Eliot had hired him as assistant librarian at the Boston Athenaeum.
Evans did not have formal training of the scholars, bibliographers, and librarians who surrounded him. Because of this, library scholars were reluctant to aid him in his bibliography project.
It was here that Evans met
William Frederick Poole
William Frederick Poole (24 December 1821, Salem, Massachusetts – 1 March 1894) was an American bibliographer and librarian.
Biography
He graduated from Yale University in 1849, where he assisted John Edmands, who was a student at the Brothe ...
, the librarian who would make the biggest impact on Evans' life when it came to his knowledge and appreciation for the organization and classification in libraries. Years later into his career, Evans would recommend Poole join 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 a ...
.
Career Timeline
* 1872-1878 Organizer and Librarian at the
Indianapolis Public Library
The Indianapolis Public Library (IndyPL), formerly known as the Indianapolis–Marion County Public Library, is the public library system serving the citizens of Marion County, Indiana, United States and its largest city, Indianapolis. The li ...
[“Charles Evans.” Dictionary of American Biography, Supplements 1-2: To 1940. American Council of Learned Societies, 1944-1958. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2009. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC]
* 1884-1887 Organizer and Assistant Librarian at the
Enoch Pratt Free Library
The Enoch Pratt Free Library is the free public library system of Baltimore, Maryland. Its Central Library and office headquarters are located on 400 Cathedral Street (southbound) and occupy the northeastern three quarters of a city block bound ...
in
Baltimore, MD
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
* 1887-1889 Organizer at the
Omaha Public Library
Omaha Public Library is the public library system of the city of Omaha, Nebraska. A library association was founded in 1857, but the library board was not appointed until 1877. In 1895, the library became one of the first six in the nation to c ...
* 1889-1892 Librarian at the Indianapolis Public Library
* 1892-1895 Classifier of the collections at the
Newberry Library
The Newberry Library is an independent research library, specializing in the humanities and located on Washington Square in Chicago, Illinois. It has been free and open to the public since 1887. Its collections encompass a variety of topics rela ...
in Chicago
* 1895-1896 Organizer at the Virginia Library of the
McCormick Theological Seminary
McCormick Theological Seminary is a private Presbyterian seminary in Chicago, Illinois. It shares a campus with the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, bordering the campus of the University of Chicago. A letter of intent was signed on May 5 ...
of Chicago
* 1896-1901 Librarian at the
Chicago Historical Society
Chicago History Museum is the museum of the Chicago Historical Society (CHS). The CHS was founded in 1856 to study and interpret Chicago's history. The museum has been located in Lincoln Park since the 1930s at 1601 North Clark Street at the int ...
Controversy surrounding Evans
Evans was known to oppose the relocation of libraries and was more than once consequently asked to submit his resignation due to the fuss he caused. In 1892, he was fired from the
Indianapolis Public Library
The Indianapolis Public Library (IndyPL), formerly known as the Indianapolis–Marion County Public Library, is the public library system serving the citizens of Marion County, Indiana, United States and its largest city, Indianapolis. The li ...
for publicly disagreeing with the board's plans to open a new building, which Evans believed would too-soon be congested with an influx of books.
[Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 187, American Book Collectors and Bibliographers, Second Series, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1997, pp. 92-102.] In 1901, Evans was dismissed from his post as librarian at the
McCormick Theological Seminary
McCormick Theological Seminary is a private Presbyterian seminary in Chicago, Illinois. It shares a campus with the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, bordering the campus of the University of Chicago. A letter of intent was signed on May 5 ...
in Chicago due to his quarreling over which classification to use – the committee wished to use
Charles Cutter's system (which organized books by subject), while Evans demanded that they use the classification system he was both used to and fond of. Around the same time, Evans compiled his ''Charter, Constitution, By-laws, Roll of Membership, MDCCCLVI-MDCCCCI: List of Officers and Members, MDCCCCI'' (Chicago, 1901, printed for the Society) with several glaring factual errors, but when he refused to republish it correctly, they fired him.
American Library Association
In 1876, Evans, along with
Melvil Dewey
Melville Louis Kossuth "Melvil" Dewey (December 10, 1851 – December 26, 1931) was an influential American librarian and educator, inventor of the Dewey Decimal system of library classification, a founder of the Lake Placid Club, and a chief lib ...
of the
Dewey Decimal Classification
The Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC), colloquially known as the Dewey Decimal System, is a proprietary library classification system which allows new books to be added to a library in their appropriate location based on subject.
Section 4.1 ...
system, co-founded 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 a ...
. Evans recommended other integral members - renowned librarians he'd met along the way - to become a part of the association.
These members then came together at a conference held in Philadelphia, where Evans would give a speech on his "The Sizes of Printed Books" paper, which was published in ALA's first volume of the ''
Library Journal
''Library Journal'' is an American trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey. It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional prac ...
''. In 1877, he became 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 a ...
's first
treasurer
A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance.
Government
The treasury o ...
.
Evans continued to contribute to the ''Library Journal.''
''American Bibliography''
Evans officially began working on American Bibliography - his lifelong goal - in 1901 and compiled it over a course of years through 1934. Originally, Evans stored his notecards in corset boxes with the dates contained within written on the illustration's waistline.
Publication took a few hiatuses during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
in between volumes, but eventually, all desired volumes were published, including some that were published posthumously by outsiders eager to continue Evans' work, particularly Roger Bristol.
The first volume was published by Evans himself and covered the span of 1639-1740.
All succeeding volumes were published on borrowed money for both publication purposes and travel purposes, as Evans preferred to travel around the United States in order to actually see the books he was including in his work, though when he was not able to travel, he was known to include "ghost" titles,
as well as skip publications altogether due to the amount of space, and therefore money, they would take up in his printed book. It is said that ''American Bibliography'' lacks a proper representation of Harvard
dissertations
A thesis (plural, : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard Int ...
and broadsides.
The first 12 volumes of Evans’ American Bibliography are dedicated to individuals of influence in his life and work.
The entire Evans Collection was eventually photographed and put onto microfilm, and is available at many research libraries. A
paywall
A paywall is a method of restricting access to content, with a purchase or a paid subscription, especially news. Beginning in the mid-2010s, newspapers started implementing paywalls on their websites as a way to increase revenue after years of ...
ed fully searchable digital edition titled ''
Early American Imprints Early American Imprints is a digital and microopaque card (not the more common microfiche) collection produced by Readex. It is based on Charles Evan's (1850 - 1935) ''American Bibliography.'' Ralph Shaw (1907–72) and Richard Shoemaker's (1907 ...
, Series I: Evans, 1639-1980'' is for sale from
Readex
Readex, a division of NewsBank, publishes collections of primary source research materials.
History
In 1950, publisher Albert Boni, co-founder of the Modern Library, formed the Readex Microprint Corporation in New York City. Some of the comp ...
, as part of its Archive of Americana.
Other writings
Evans was also actively involved in both ''
Library Journal
''Library Journal'' is an American trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey. It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional prac ...
'' and ''Proceedings of the
American Antiquarian Society
The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society in ...
,'' and he was known to write for them from time to time, as well.
Marriage and children
Evans married Lena Young, who supported and encouraged his work efforts, on April 8, 1883.
* Gertrude, born in 1884
* Eliot Howland, born in 1886
* Charles Sumner, born in 1888, who became a well-known golfer later in life.
Chick Evans
Charles E. "Chick" Evans Jr. (July 18, 1890 – November 6, 1979) was an American amateur golfer of the 1910s and 1920s. Evans, who won the 1910 Western Open, became the first amateur to win both the U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur in one year, a f ...
* Constance Evans, born in 1889
Death
Charles and Lena remained married until her death on October 5, 1933. Charles Evans died of a stroke on February 8, 1935.
Honors, awards and memberships
* 1910 Elected to
American Antiquarian Society
The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society in ...
* 1926 Elected to
Colonial Society of Massachusetts
Colonial or The Colonial may refer to:
* Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology)
Architecture
* American colonial architecture
* French Colonial
* Spanish Colonial architecture
Automobiles
* Colonial (1920 au ...
* 1933 Became honorary member 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 a ...
* 1934
Brown University
Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...
awarded him an honorary
Doctor of Letters
Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Doctor ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Charles
1850 births
1935 deaths
American librarians
American Library Association people
American bibliographers