Repository: UIHistories Project: UI Library School Alumni Newsletter - 22 [PAGE 13]

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Alumni News Letter, 1036

Drake is r» j ognized as one of the outstanding librarians on the Pacific MX and has served as president of the California Library Association <u o f a ^ S t i S lle(1 bv one Pasadena newspaper the "brilliant leader ( public education. Miss Drake expects to continue making her home * in

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\ftcr going to Pasadena she had much to do with the planning of the n*w ttrary building there. It was dedicated in 1927. She introduced many i n n o S tions in library service which afterwards were adopted by libraries elsewhere Her outstanding achievements m the library world have been listed in "Who'i Who in America." Helen T. Kennedy, B.L.S. '03, died July 8th, 1935, at Tujunga near Los Angeles, California. She was born in Council Bluffs. Iowa, in 1877. She graduated from the University of Illinois Library School in 1903, and held positions in the Public Libraries of Jacksonville, Illinois and Kewanee, Illinois, until 1907, when she was made Instructor in the University of Wisconsin Library School. In 1910 she was invited to become Library Organizer of the Oregon Free Library Commission. From 1911 to 1931, Miss Kennedy was a member of the Los Angeles Library staff. For a year she conducted the Los Angeles training school, aiding in its development. In 1912 she was made Principal of Branches, but continued to give courses on administration and library buildings in the Training Class. In 1925 she was made second assistant librarian and was busy with the activities of the Central Library. Miss Althea Warren, City Librarian of Los Angeles writes: "Miss Kennedy's illness which caused her to resign in 1931 brought a loss to the library profession. Her indomitable spirit and fine idealism will long be remembered. Her unselfish devotion to the development of the branch library system in Los Angeles will ever be a part of library history." Mr. Ainsworth, in The Los Angeles Times, wrote: "Miss Helen T. Kennedy is dead. She died as she lived, simply. Few persons even realize that the 'Mother of the branch libraries of Los Angeles' has gone. Yet she probably has done more to bring the joy of books to untold thousands than anyone connected with the library system. She left behind more than one monument. She left a score of them. "Twenty of the branch libraries of the Los Angeles Public Library system stand as direct proof of her zeal and ability. From 1912 to 1925, when she was head of the branches, she saw to it that these book centers were erected in strategic parts of the far-flung metropolitan area. She brought books to the people, and a new world was opened up to a vast population. "The branch libraries became individual community centers, the nuclei of a new kind of cultural opportunity. Behind it all was the quiet shadow of Miss Kennedy. She never thrust herself forward. She worked, kept in the background and let the pleasure of others be her reward. ....„--. .t L "She was never in robust health. Finally in 1931 her ill health torced her to Mire, but she kept up a most active interest in library work She couldn t k e e p ptirely away from the work and for some months did cataloging in the Santa e State Museum Library in New Mexico." She is survived by her mother, Mary Elizabeth Kennedy, and a brother, 1 he everend Melville Kennedy of Champaign, Illinois. Sara Abbott, 1906-'07, is doing editorial work with the Federal Housing Administration, Vermont & K Streets, N.W., Washington, D. C. . Clara Brooks, B.L.S. '12 (Mrs. R. A. Hennitt), sent a Christmas card show"?£ a kodak of her two handsome sons Sunny and Hilly and their do£, I eg. J he IVnnitts arc temporarily located at Brccsc, Illinois. L Margaret Winning. '14* formerly head of the Allen County Department. | o r t Wayne, Indiana, Public Library, has been appointed librarian of Berkeley Institute, Brooklyn, N. Y. \ Antoinette Helen Goetz, RL.S. '15, has been made acting head of the