Colleagues:

I am researching the lives of the 150+ librarians who headed a neighborhood
branch of the New York Public Library during the first 50 years of its
branch system, 1901-1950.  I have started a blog called NYPL-Librarians at
http://nypl-librarians.blogspot.com/ to report on my research.



The blog will include information on my demographic study of the librarians;
the autonomy the branch librarians (all but 6 were women) achieved within a
male-run institution and then lost beginning in the 1930s; the process of
racially integrating the staff starting in 1920; and the
librarians' publication patterns.



I’m also writing short profiles of the librarians and post them on their
birthdays.  The hope is that a descendant doing family history research
might contact me after coming across the entry, and I may be able to get
access to additional personal data, or reminiscences or even letters.

I’ll also use the blog as an outlet for interesting vignettes, such as the
post <http://nypl-librarians.blogspot.com/search/label/Berle%20Milton> about
a librarian’s assessment of the impact of the Milton Berle TV show on the
High Bridge neighborhood in the Bronx in 1950.



I welcome any comments or suggestions you might have.



Bob Sink