Gretchen Knief Schenk (October 1, 1901 – May 16, 1989) was an American librarian, who served as Washington State Librarian from 1942 to 1945, and as president of the Alabama Library Association from 1949 to 1950. She was inducted into the California Library Hall of Fame in 2013.

Early life

Gretchen D. Knief was born in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

, the daughter of Frederick Constantine Knief and Dora Mueller Knief. Her father was a Lutheran minister, who moved the family to southern California in 1923. She attended Milwaukee State Normal School, the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

, and the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

Library School.

Career

Knief's early library jobs included work at the

Milwaukee Public Library Milwaukee Public Library (MPL) is the public library system in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, consisting of a central library and 13 branches, all part of the Milwaukee County Federated Library System. MPL is the largest public library sys ...

, the

Los Angeles Public Library The Los Angeles Public Library system (LAPL) is a public library system in Los Angeles, California. The system holds more than six million volumes, and with around 19 million residents in the Los Angeles Metropolitan area, it serves the large ...

, the

Santa Monica Public Library The Santa Monica Public Library (SMPL) is the public library serving residents of Santa Monica, California and surrounding areas. SMPL is directed by a City Librarian, who reports to the Santa Monica City Manager's Office and is overseen by a Libr ...

, and the Siskiyou County Free Library in

Yreka, California Yreka ( ) is the county seat of Siskiyou County, California, United States, near the Shasta River; the city has an area of about , most of it land. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 7,807, reflecting a meager increase fro ...

. In 1939, Knief was the county librarian of

Kern County, California Kern County is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 909,235. Its county seat is Bakersfield, California, Bakersfield. Kern County comprise ...

, when the county Board of Supervisors ordered that the libraries remove all copies of

John Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. (; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer and the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature winner "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social ...

's ''

The Grapes of Wrath ''The Grapes of Wrath'' is an American realist novel written by John Steinbeck and published in 1939. The book won the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and it was cited prominently when Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize ...

''. She announced that, once removed, the books would not be discarded, but instead offered to other county libraries in California. The book was restored to Kern County library shelves in January 1941. "Banning books is so utterly hopeless and futile," she wrote in a letter to the Board. "Ideas don't die because a book is forbidden reading. If Steinbeck has written the truth, that truth will survive." In 1941 she announced the availability of another controversial title,

Jan Valtin Richard Julius Hermann Krebs (December 17, 1905 - January 1, 1951), better known by his alias Jan Valtin, was a German writer during the interwar period. He settled in the United States in 1938, and in 1940 (as Valtin) wrote his bestselling book '' ...

's ''Out of the Night,'' a bestselling autobiography said to contain "lurid tales of violence and horror" by an ex-spy. Schenk moved to Washington soon after the Steinbeck controversy, and was Washington State Librarian from 1942 to 1945. After

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 ...

, she became a library consultant based in

Summerdale, Alabama Summerdale is a rural town in south-central Baldwin County, Alabama, Baldwin County, Alabama, United States. It is the site of the Naval Outlying Landing Field Summerdale. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 1,468. It ...

, conducting studies of county and statewide public library systems, and making recommendations for improvement. She was president of the Alabama Library Association from 1949 to 1950, and led the association's first, contentious discussions about admitting black librarians into its membership. 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 ...

published Schenk's ''County and Regional Library Development'' in 1954. Schenk was presented with the second

Beta Phi Mu Award The Beta Phi Mu Award is an annual prize recognizing an individual for distinguished service to education for librarianship. First bestowed in 1954, Award recipients include various prominent leaders in the field of librarianship. The Award is spo ...

in 1955, for "distinguished service to librarianship". She was posthumously inducted into the California Library Hall of Fame in 2013.

Personal life

Gretchen Knief married German-born dairy farmer Franz Schenk in 1942. She died in

Foley, Alabama Foley is a city in Baldwin County, Alabama, United States. The 2010 census lists the population of the city as 14,618."Census 2010 Demographic Profile Data" (for Foley, AL), US Census Bureau, 2010, webpage: . Foley is a principal city of the ...

, in 1989, aged 87 years, the same year as the fiftieth anniversary of ''The Grapes of Wrath'''s publication, and of her efforts to keep the book on California library shelves.

References

External links

* * The Online Books Page
Online Books by Gretchen Knief Schenk
* Gretchen Knief Schenk
"Report of a Survey of Carnegie Library, Abilene, Texas"
(1955). * Gretchen Knief Schenk
"Rockingham County Library, Past Present and Future"
(1958). * Gretchen Knief Schenk
"Public Library Service in Nevada: A Survey with Recommendations"
(1958) * Gretchen Knief Schenk
"Public Library Service in Missouri: A Survey. Summary Report"
(1962) * Gretchen Knief Schenk
"Survey of the Arkansas Library Commission and the Public Libraries of Arkansas"
(1964). {{DEFAULTSORT:Schenk, Gretchen Knief 1901 births 1989 deaths People from Milwaukee American librarians American women librarians 20th-century American women 20th-century American people