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A long overdue biography of Alice M. Jordan (1870-1960), head of youth services at the Boston Public Library from 1902 to 1940 and one of the pioneers of children's librarianship. Between the Age of Sail and the Space Age, a sea captain's daughter gained fame as a book critic while practicing institutional politics behind the scenes.
List of contents
Preface and Acknowledgments: Mapping Alice Jordan
Chapter 1: Thomaston and the World, 1870-1881
Chapter 2: The Auburndale Years, 1881-1900
Chapter 3: Moving to Boston, 1900-1901
Chapter 4: The Children's Room, Initiation, 1902
Chapter 5: The New Custodian Takes Hold, 1902-1906
Chapter 6: Networks and Associations, 1902-1907
Chapter 7: Progress and Outrage, 1907-1917
Chapter 8: Turning Point, 1917-1927
Chapter 9: Elder Stateswoman at the BPL, 1927-1940
Chapter 10: Worlds Beyond, 1940-1960
Epilogue: Following the Map
Appendix A: Alice Jordan's Educational Tour, 1902
Appendix B: Response to a 1916 Editorial
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Gale Eaton was born in Bangor, Maine, where a great public library headed by Alice Jordan's cousin Felix Ranlett helped prepare her for Smith College. She went to work in the children's room of the Boston Public Library, where Alice Jordan's last generation of trainees maintained noble standards. She completed her MLS at the University of Rhode Island while working full time at the BPL; spent seven years as Supervisor of Children's Services at the Berkshire Athenaeum; and returned to school, earning her Ph.D. at the University of North Carolina/Chapel Hill. In 1988 she began teaching children's literature, library services to youth, and research methods at URI's Graduate School of Library and Information. She was appointed its director in 2006. Her first book for Scarecrow was Well-Dressed Role Models: The Portrayal of Women in Biographies for Children (2006); her previous work on Alice Jordan has been published in Libraries & the Cultural Record (2011), Children & Libraries (2010), and Marilyn Miller's Pioneers and Leaders in Library Services to Youth (2003), and presented at conferences of the Children's Literature Association (2011), Maine Library Association (2011), and Association for Library and Information Science Education (2009). Eaton retired in 2012. She now writes and volunteers for the RI Coalition of Library Advocates.
Summary
A long overdue biography of Alice M. Jordan (1870-1960), head of youth services at the Boston Public Library from 1902 to 1940 and one of the pioneers of children's librarianship. Between the Age of Sail and the Space Age, a sea captain's daughter gained fame as a book critic while practicing institutional politics behind the scenes.
