Marjorie Adele Blackistone Bradfield (May 10, 1911 – November 19, 1999) was an American librarian who worked at the

Detroit Public Library The Detroit Public Library is the second largest library system in the U.S. state of Michigan by volumes held (after the University of Michigan Library) and the 21st-largest library system (and the fourth-largest public library system) in the Uni ...

and

Detroit Public Schools Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) is a school district that covers all of the city of Detroit, Michigan, United States and high school students in the insular city of Highland Park. The district, which replaced the original Detr ...

for many years. Bradfield was the first

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

librarian hired at the Detroit Public Library.

Early life and education

Marjorie Adele Blackistone was born May 10, 1911 in Washington, D.C. Blackistone earned a degree from the University of Michigan in 1934 and graduated from the

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

School of Library Service in 1935. She married Horace Ferguson Bradfield, a physician, in 1938. She returned to the University of Michigan and received a

Master of Library Science The Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS), also referred to as the Master of Library and Information Studies, is the master's degree that is required for most professional librarian positions in the United States. The MLIS is a relativ ...

degree in 1940.

Career

In 1935, Blackistone became a librarian at Roosevelt High School in

Gary, Indiana Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The city has been historically dominated by major industrial activity and is home to U.S. Steel's Gary Works, the largest steel mill complex in North America. Gary is located along the ...

. Bradfield was hired by the Detroit Public Library in 1938, becoming the first professional African-American librarian there. She worked to improve the library's resources about African Americans, and helped establish the library's Black History collection. Bradfield left the library to raise her two children in 1950, but returned in 1964, continuing her work building the library's collection of black literature. In 1967 the Detroit City Council increased funding for minority literature due to her efforts, including money to help expand the library's Azalia Hackley Collection of black literature about the performing arts. Her recommendation to hire Clara Stanton Jones as the Detroit Public Library's first black head librarian was influential. In 1968 Bradfield became the head librarian of the Detroit Public Schools system, where she established literature programs for Black History Month. In 1980 she retired from Detroit Public Schools. Bradfield died in Detroit, Michigan on November 19, 1999.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bradfield, Marjorie A. Blackistone American librarians American women librarians African-American librarians 1911 births 1999 deaths University of Michigan School of Information alumni Columbia University School of Library Service alumni 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people