Theodore Wesley Koch (August 4, 1871 – March 23, 1941) was the Director of

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

's library (1919–1941), and the Director of

the University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

Library (1905–1915). He also held positions at the

Cornell University Library The Cornell University Library is the library system of Cornell University. As of 2014, it holds over 8 million printed volumes and over a million ebooks. More than 90 percent of its current 120,000 Periodical literature, periodical titles are ...

and the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

Biography

Koch was born in Philadelphia in 1871, the son of William Jefferson Koch (pronounced by the family as "coke") a descendant of German immigrants ("Pennsylvania Dutch"). Koch receive a BA from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

, followed by a second BA and an MA from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

(1893 and 1894 respectively) in

Romance Languages The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language fam ...

. He went on to study in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, before returning to

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

, where he was responsible for producing a detailed, annotated catalogue of Cornell's extensive collection of

Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...

's works. Koch was the Director of the Library of

(1919–1941), during which time he planned and raised the funds for the

Deering Library Charles Deering Library is an academic library of Northwestern University, a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Deering served as the university's main library on the Evanston campus from 1933, when it was established, until the co ...

at Northwestern. His bust is carved into a pillar next to the entrance to the stacks. Bust of Theodore Wesley Koch

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 ...

, while on the staff of the

, Koch played an instrumental role in ensuring that scientific publications from Germany and other combatants continued to be available to American researchers. He also organized programs to provide books to American soldiers in the trenches, and after the end of the war was very active in organizing American support for the rebuilding of European libraries that had been destroyed during the war. He was a translator of

Italian poetry Italian poetry is a category of Italian literature. Italian poetry has its origins in the thirteenth century and has heavily influenced the poetic traditions of many European languages, including that of English. Features * Italian prosody is a ...

and essays; scholar of Dante; widely published on issues of libraries and

public education State schools (in England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand) or public schools (Scottish English and North American English) are generally primary or secondary schools that educate all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in pa ...

from the 1910s to the late 1930s. In 1940 he received the

Cross of the Legion of Honor The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...

from the French Government, for his lifelong work in translating, promoting, and enhancing the appreciation of French literature in the United States. He translated a series of books on French bibliophiles. Butler, Pierce. 1931. “A Review of ''The Mirror of the Parisian Bibliophile'', by Alfred Bonnardot.” ''Library Quarterly'' 1 (January): 371–72. He died in 1941, a few months short of his scheduled retirement.

References

External links

''The Library Assistant's Manual'' by Koch
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Koch, Theodore Wesley American librarians 1941 deaths 1871 births American translators Cornell University faculty Grand Croix of the Légion d'honneur Harvard University alumni Library of Congress Northwestern University faculty People from Philadelphia University of Michigan faculty University of Pennsylvania alumni