[Libs-Or] Eyebrow Pop-up #2: Librarian at Big Bertha fired for not supporting the war.

[Tony]

World War I, that is.


Kimberly Jensen (Western Oregon U) has an article in the Summer 2017 Oregon Historical Quarterly titled "Women's 'Positive Patriotic Duty' to Participate."  It is about the experience of women in Oregon during the Great War of 100 years ago.  In it are some pages about Louise Hunt, a librarian at the Central branch of the Portland Library (now Multnomah County Library.)  She refused to purchase a Liberty Bond in 1918, which was considered un-patriotic, and was hounded from her position and forced to resign.


Along with war-bond sales people and the US Attorney for Oregon, Hunt was criticized by the major newspapers of the time, which also spread "fake news" about her.  The Portland Federation of Women's Clubs joined in the attack, voting 150-0 protesting "agains the retention of any person in library service who displayed disloyalty to the government."


For a fuller treatment of the story,  Ms. Hunt's experience was the subject of Master's Thesis at PSU in 1968  http://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/254/

<http://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/254/>

"The library board and the conscientious objector : a ...<http://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/254/>
pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu
Recommended Citation. Bartholomae, Annette Martha, "The library board and the conscientious objector : a study in war hysteria" (1968). Dissertations and Theses.

A bit of library history, and a reminder that things could get worse.


Tony Greiner


Primo and Alma: Making WorldCat Local Look Good
**tony_greiner at hotmail.com**
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