A True Politician: Rebecca Browning Rankin, Municipal Reference Librarian of the City of New York, 1920-1952 (review)

Abstract

The figures range from portraits of notable individuals connected to the library, such as the eponymous Harry Elkins Widener, to architectural schematics, outmoded library documents such as a “stack pass,” and, of course, interior and exterior shots of the Widener itself. The illustrations serve to make the accompanying narrative more concrete and tangible than it might otherwise have been. In general, this is an interesting and well-executed book. The text suffers from uneven proofing, as evidenced by the surprising number of spelling errors that slipped through. A more serious issue has to do with a lacuna in the information. The book repeatedly draws attention to the fact that for much of its early history the library was closed to women (vii, 86, 113, 115, 126). It therefore seems a curious omission that it never mentions when or how these restrictions were lifted. Suddenly on page 143 a quoted letter refers to “the coeducational nature of the reading room” as an established fact, which is the first that the reader learns of this development. Similarly, the changes wrought by the opening of the stacks are discussed without giving any more specific information about the circumstances of that change than that it happened at some unspecified time during the tenure of Keyes Metcalfe. Despite these oversights, Widener: Biography of a Library will be useful to anyone interested in the history of Harvard, the development of large academic libraries in the twentieth century, or the Widener in particular. If the tone is more emotional than analytical, that is no great flaw in a book intended to celebrate the Widener’s turbulent years of service. The author writes, “Widener’s story is that of higher education in the midst of the social, political, and cultural tumult of the twentieth century; it is a story best told by more accomplished voices than mine” (x). Perhaps one of those voices will take up this modest refrain and raise it to further heights.