Melvil Dewey
Melville Louis Kossuth (Melvil) Dewey (December 10, 1851 – December 26, 1931) was an American librarian and educator. He invented the Dewey Decimal library classification system.
Melvil Dewey | |
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| Born | Melville Louis Kossuth Dewey December 10, 1851 |
| Died | December 26, 1931 (aged 80) |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Melvil Dewey Melvil Dui |
| Education | Amherst College |
| Occupation | librarian, resort developer, reformer |
| Known for | Dewey Decimal Classification |
| Spouse(s) | Annie R. Godfrey (1878) Emily McKay Beal (1924) |
| Relatives | Godfrey Dewey (son) |
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Early life
Dewey was born on December 10, 1851, in Adams Center, New York. He attended Alfred University in 1870[1] and then Amherst College. He earned a bachelor's degree in 1874 and a master's in 1877.[2]
Career
While still a student, he founded the Library Bureau, a company that sold index-cards and filing-cabinets used in libraries and businesses.[3]
He developed his book classification system based on a decimal numbering system while working in the Amherst library. He published a first edition in 1876.[4]
He was one of the founders of the American Library Association in 1876 and served for many years as editor of the Journal of the American Library Association.[5]
In the 1880's he took a position as librarian at Columbia University Libraries, where he developed one of the first training schools for librarians.[6]
Lake Placid Club
Dewey founded the Lake Placid Club in Lake Placid, New York in 1895 as a health club and retreat. The Winter Olympics were held there, mostly led by his son Godfrey[7]
Reforms
He advocated for spelling reform for the English language. At one point he changed the spelling of his name from "Melvile" to "Melvil," removing redundant letters. He also for a brief time wrote his surname as "Dui."[8] He also founded The Metric Bureau in 1876 to advocate for the United States to move to metric measurement.[9]
Personal life
Dewey married twice, first to Annie R. Godfrey, and then to Emily McKay Beal.[7] He and his first wife had one child, Godfrey.
He moved to Florida and founded Lake Placid, Florida. He died of a stroke there in 1931.[7]
Melvil Dewey Media
Spine labels of The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, showing Dewey Decimal Classification call numbers (030=Encyclopedias)
The interior of the New York State Library, late 19th century
Lake Placid from the Whiteface Mountain gondola
References
- ↑ Anna Elliott (May 1981). "Melvil Dewey: A Singular and Contentious Life". Wilson Library Bulletin. http://www.hwwilson.com/databases/PDFsample/WLB/dewey.pdf.
- ↑ Wiegand, Wayne A. (1996). Irrepressible reformer : a biography of Melvil Dewey. Chicago: American Library Association. p. 14. ISBN 9780838906804.
- ↑ Michael Dewe (1968), "Historical aspects of library supply". In: Library World Vols 70–72, Grafton (eds), pp. 27–28.
- ↑ Wiegand, W. A. (1998). "The "Amherst Method" : The Origins of the Dewey Decimal Classification Scheme". In: Libraries & Culture. Vol. 33, No. 2, Spring 1998.
- ↑ Wiegand, Wayne A. (1996). Irrepressible reformer : a biography of Melvil Dewey. Chicago: American Library Association. ISBN 9780838906804.
- ↑ Sarah K. Vann. Training for Librarianship Before 1923. Chicago: American Library Association, 1961. p. 28.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "Dr. Melvil Dewey dead in Florida". The New York Times. December 27, 1931. Archived from the original on October 15, 2009. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
- ↑ "Dewey Resources". oclc.org. 13 July 2020.
- ↑ Hector Vera, "Melvil Dewey, Metric Apostle", MetricToday: The U.S. Metric Association Newsletter, vol. 45, no. 4, July–August 2010, pp. 1, 4–6.