Blog Posts by Subject: Foreword: Women Who Built NYPL

Carolyn Ulrich was chief of the New York Public Library’s Periodicals Division and created the field’s go to resource, still in use by librarians today.

During her tenure, Hutson grew the Schomburg’s collection from 15,000 to 75,000 volumes, including the archive of her friend Langston Hughes, and successfully lobbied for money and support for the Center. The research and reference division now bears her name.

Hudson joined The New York Public Library in 1970 as a Map Cataloger and Reference Librarian, and by the end of her tenure in 2009 had changed the landscape of map librarianship forever.

Thornton began her career at NYPL in instruction at the then Science, Industry and Business Library in 1996, and quickly rose through the ranks to become the first woman to serve as Andrew W. Mellon Director of the New York Public Library’s Research Libraries.

In the 1920s, Moore worked as a part-time clerk at the Hudson Park Branch of The New York Public Library, which some critics have linked to the exacting and cataloguing character of her writing.

Rose began her Library career at the Bloomingdale Branch in 1905 and went on to make important first steps in integrating the Library and making it more supportive of communities of color.

Maud Malone is known by history as a radical suffragist, but her work at the Library had its own activist bent.

Beyond her work cultivating collections, Latimer showed that a librarian’s work could be far-reaching and not defined by one role.

Margaret Clara Scoggin was one of the first librarians to champion the idea of young adult public librarianship. Her philosophy around engaging teens heavily influenced the Library’s design and mission.

Melanie Yolles is an archivist who was on the cutting edge of digital access to archives, entering the Library’s first archival inventory in digital form in 1988.

Andrews was the first African American woman to lead a New York Public Library branch. A trailblazer who did not rest on her laurels, she provided programs and services to the communities of Harlem, Manhattan’s Lower East Side, and the Bronx and served as inspiration for the next generation of Black women librarians.

Thanks to her dedication, vision, and masterful negotiating skills, Corwin not only became a full-time employee, but she created the world-renowned treasure trove known as the Theatre on Film and Tape Archive, revolutionizing theatre history and research.

Romana Javitz led The New York Public Library’s Picture Collection, improving access for patrons and focusing on capturing American folk art and crafts, particularly African American culture and art.

Mabel Williams's groundbreaking work of focusing library services on teens culminated with the creation of the Library's first “NYPL Books for Young People” list, which influenced school library collections across the nation.

Anne Carroll Moore was a pioneer in children’s librarianship, advocating to make libraries welcoming spaces to users of all ages.

Thanks to Oswald's visionary leadership, and unapologetic insistence that dance was a legitimate field of academic study, the Dance Division now houses the largest collection of dance materials anywhere in the world.

Johnston, a strong-willed mid-Westerner who had come to New York to make a difference, broke ground for women, fighting through hurdles like having to deliver her monthly reports to a committee that frequently met at a men’s club.

Belpré was an enthusiastic advocate for the Spanish-speaking community and shepherded in bilingual story hours, stockpiling Spanish-language books, and advancing programs based on traditional holidays such as Three Kings Day.

Baker spent her career collecting children's literature at the Library that positively portrayed people of color and actively encouraging writers and publishers to create books depicting diverse communities.