John Cotton Dana
John Cotton Dana Summary
(
August 19,
1856 -
July 21,
1929) was a highly influential
American librarian and
museum director who did much of his work in
Newark, New Jersey. He wanted to bring libraries into the 20th century by making them vibrant community centers instead of collections of relics that only appealed to a small segment of the community.
He was Director of the
Denver Public Library from
1889 to
1898. While there, he pioneered the patron's right to open
stacks, allowing them to browse for themselves instead of having a librarian monitoring their every request.
While in Denver, he also organized the first-ever children's library room. He was personally opposed to the concept of storytime, preferring for his children's library to focus on the continuing education of school teachers.
He became head of the Newark Public Library in
1902 and directed it until his death. He established foreign language collections for
immigrants and also developed a special collection for the business community. This "Business Branch" was the first of its kind in the nation.
He also founded the
Newark Museum in
1909, directing it until his death. Dana personally did not like modern art, but he believed in the principle of a universal museum and thus ordered purchases of art associated with the
Ashcan School. Cotton also began the Newark Museum's notable Tibetan collection.
Dana served as president of the
American Library Association, which today gives out the
John Cotton Dana Public Relations Award to libraries with exceptional public relations. Dana is a member of the
Library Hall of Fame.
John Cotton Dana married, but his wife was not healthy. He did not have any children.
Rutgers-Newark's main library is named for John Cotton Dana.
"The worth of a book is in its use." -Dana
Youth, Early Education, Early Occupations John Dana was born August 19th, 1856 in Woodstock, Vermont to Charles Dana, Jr. and Charitie Dana. As a child, he enjoyed reading, but he also worked and played outdoors. In 1874, he began his studies at Dartmouth College. During college Dana tutored other students in Greek and Latin. He remained fond of the classics from both of these languages throughout his life.
After matriculating from Dartmouth in 1878, Dana returned to Woodstock to study law. A bout of ill-health caused Dana to quit his studies and travel westward. His journeys took him to Colorado where, in addition to living an outdoor lifestyle and surveying claims, he took up law again and eventually passed the Colorado bar in 1880.
After living in Colorado for a few more years, Dana moved to New York where he was admitted to the New York Bar in 1883. In addition to his legal studies, Dana enjoyed a healthy social life, the arts andâ€"of courseâ€"voracious reading.
In 1885, Dana moved to Minnesota, to take up a position as the editor of the Ashby Avalanche and practice law. Soon after arriving in Minnesota, however, Dana returned again to Colorado to do more surveying and construction work. Although his degree was in law, he seems to have become increasingly dissatisfied with this area of study and occupation.
In 1888, he married Adine Rowena Wagener and began living on a ranch. To earn money, he gave lectures on religious and social issues. He also wrote numerous articles for newspapers in the area. Because of the reputation he cultivated as a learned man and his connections in the Denver Public Schools, the superintendent of Denver Public Schools, Aaron Gove, nominated Dana as the director of the Denver Public Library upon its inception in 1890.
Colorado Years Like everything else he chose to do in his life, Dana poured his considerable physical and mental energies into his new position. He read deeply and widely on librarianship to prepare himself for his job. He did not attend any formal library school, even though Melvil Dewey had opened the first such school, The New York State Library School, in 1888. One of his biographers said of him, "He would have found a library school curriculum intolerable, and doubtless a library school would have found him intolerable" (Hadley, 12).
His years spent at the Denver Public Library, from 1890 to 1895, saw the formation of his library philosophy, many precepts of which librariansâ€"and citizensâ€"now take for granted. Among his numerous of other positions, a few of his most famous are as follows. He despised substandard books and sought to fill the shelves of his institution with high quality texts. His institution opened all of its shelves to patrons for browsing. Although Cleveland had previously tested the theory of open shelves, Dana was the first to open the entire stacks for patrons to browse and peruse at their leisure.
Dana also revolutionized children's librarianship. He was the first to allow kids to browse library shelves on their own. He made sure the kids had smaller chairs and other furniture, so they could completely enjoy the library experience. He also stressed the importance of local history in school curriculum. He is quoted as saying that an explanation of the local system of providing a city with clean water is more fascinating to children than a fairy tale.
In 1895, Dana left the Colorado Library when the city began discussing the lowering of his salary. Apparently, public controversy had arisen over a city tax levied for the school district and, by extension, the library.
Springfield Years Fortunately for Dana, his fame as an innovative librarian had spread across the country. He was quickly rehired at the Springfield, Massachusetts library. He continued many of his policies there. One of the main things Dana did at the Springfield library was to the physical building itself. He had workers tear down many of the railings and generally open the floor plan. Although these terms were not invented until nearly a century later, Dana concerned himself heavily with the ergonomics and usability of his collections and facilities. Eventually, Dana left the Springfield library because of controversy over the scope and breadth of his position. In sum, when hired he was lead to believe that he held sway over the library as well as the museum that attached to it. In reality, however, a wealthy patron who had loaned the museum most of its collection actually held more power over that institution. Dana refused to be caught up in a power struggle and chose to leave his position in Springfield.
Newark Years In the final leg of his professional journey, Dana headed the Newark Public Library from 1902 to his death in 1929. He honed and polished his considerable skills during these years. He worked closely with businesses and other institutions to provide access to knowledge. Dana concentrated his efforts on promoting civic growth by fostering intelligence in all of its citizenry and commercial institutions. The library was the mechanism he used to achieve these goals.
Beginning in 1909, he also directed the Newark museum, which was exceptional because it included contemporary American commercial products as folk art. Dana is quoted as saying, "A great department store, easily reached, open at all hours, is more like a good museum of art than any of the museums we have yet established" (Hadley, 68). He believed in the importance of function and utility over hype, posturing and hullabaloo.
To summarize his views from the above, Dana believed libraries belonged at the center of the community. He believed in providing his patrons with books they could useâ€"and this included children. He opened the children's sections and filled them with his opinion of high-quality books and child-sized furniture. He worked ceaselessly with the press to make the public aware of library services. Most importantly, Dana's concept of the patron was the common citizen and the community; and he based all of his library philosophy and policy with this patronage in mind.
After his death, his successor at the Newark Public Library referred to Dana as, "The First Citizen of Newark". Six years after his death, the city of Newark appointed October 6, 1935 as John Cotton Dana Day. Among numerous other texts, he wrote A Library Primer, which is still an essential part of the librarianship canon. His other accomplishments include his election as president of the ALA in 1895. He served as the president of this organization until 1918.
A Library Primer,
1896The New Museum,
1917*Hadley, C. (1943). John Cotton Dana: A Sketch. Chicago: American Library Association.
*Hanson, C. A. (Ed.). (1991). Librarian at Large: Selected Writings of John Cotton Dana. Washington DC: Special Libraries Association.
*
Free ebook of John Cotton Dana at
Project Gutenberg*''Chalmers Hadley.
John Cotton Dana - A Sketch (1943)
