Virginia Cleaver Bacon (February 1, 1883 - April 11, 1930) was Oregon State Librarian.

Early life

Virginia Cleaver Bacon was born on February 1, 1883, in Halsey, Oregon, the daughter of Alonzo and Laura Cleaver. Her sister was the author Kay Cleaver Strahan. She graduated from Portland High School and obtained an A. B. at

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

. In 1914 she graduated from the Riverside School of Library Service in California and in 1924 she obtained an A. M. at American University.

Career

She was prominent in library work in California, Missouri and Washington, D.C. She was advisor in Adult Education at the Portland Public Library and established the first department of its kind on the Pacific Coast and made the work so outstanding that it was quickly adopted elsewhere. She later became Oregon State Librarian in 1929. In 1905 she was assistant for English Literature at

. From 1915 to 1921 she was librarian at Humboldt State Teacher's College of California. In 1921 she was librarian at

Park College Park University is a private university in Parkville, Missouri. It was founded in 1875. In the fall of 2017, Park had an enrollment of 11,457 students. History The school which was originally called Park College was founded in 1875 by John A. ...

, Missouri. She was assistant director of the Junior Division at the

United States Employment Service The United States Employment Service (USES) is an agency of the federal government of the United States responsible for "assisting coordination of the State public employment services in providing labor exchange and job finding assistance to job s ...

, in Washington, D. C.. Since 1925 she was a member of Portland Library staff. She wrote short stories, poems and articles for the most prominent national magazines. She was the author of "Every Day English". In 1925 she co-authored ''Vocational guidance and junior placement: twelve cities in the United States''. In 1928 she published ''Good English''. ''Good English'' was a booklet for the ''Reading with a Purpose'' series of the American Library Association. Specialists were called on to write the 45 booklets in the series and of that number only two were written by women and only four by librarians. She was a member of the

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...

, American Association of University Women, Professional Women's League,

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members ...

, American Association for Adult Education.

Personal life

Virginia Cleaver Bacon lived in California and Washington, D. C., and lastly moved to 1084 Wilson St.,

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

. She married Ralph Bacon. She died on April 11, 1930, in Portland.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bacon, Virginia Cleaver People from Halsey, Oregon 1883 births 1930 deaths American librarians American women librarians University of Oregon alumni