An Investigation of Female Leadership in Regional, State, and Local Library Associations, 1876-1923

Abstract

This study was undertaken to extend the thesis of Sharon B. Wells on "The Feminization of the American Library Profession, 1876-1923," which concluded that women never dominated the top positions in the profession nationally. This study tested the hypothesis that female librarians did provide leadership in state organizations, local associations, and state positions during the years 1876-1923. The method employed was simply to list all persons who held the executive positions in particular national associations, and to compare the sex distribution with that of the persons who held executive positions in state library associations, library commissions, and local library associations. The data are derived from a sample of such listings for every third year during the period. The data indicate that women made up 31 percent of the officers in national library associations for the years 1890-1923; they also show that women tended to be better represented when the office was not a governmental position; only 20 percent of the state librarians were women. However, during the same period, 56 percent of the officers in library commissions, 60 percent of those in state associations, and 68 percent in local associations were women. Thus, the hypothesis--that women were more active in leadership roles on the local and state scene than at the national level--is supported by the data. While the proportion of women in such leadership roles never equaled their proportion in the profession overall, they were probably more active than might have been predicted considering the cultural climate of the period covered by the study.