Althea Hester Warren (December 18, 1886December 19, 1958) was the director of the Los Angeles (California) Public Library from 1933 to 1947 and president of the

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. History 19th century ...

in 1943-1944. Martha Boaz,
Fervent and Full of Gifts: The Life of Althea Warren
' (New York: Scarecrow Press, 1961); Dorothy Drake and Virginia Milbank Fromme, ''Althea Warren, Librarian,'' N.P.: California Library Association, 1962, and "Happy 125th Birthday, Althea Warren," ''Library History Buff,'' as cited at California History Hall of Fame: Althea Warren She was inducted into the California Library Association's Library Hall of Fame in 2013.

Biography and career

Warren was born on December 18, 1886, in

Waukegan, Illinois Waukegan ( ) is a city in Lake County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. Located north of Chicago, Waukegan is a satellite city within the greater Chicago metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, its population was 89,321, makin ...

, to Lansing Warren and Emma Blodgett. She attended the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

from 1904 to 1908. After traveling abroad in Europe, Warren started library school at the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

, graduating in 1911. She was a branch manager in a "poor neighborhood" in the

Chicago Public Library The Chicago Public Library (CPL) is the public library system that serves the Chicago, City of Chicago in the U.S. state of Illinois. It consists of 81 locations, including a central library, three regional libraries, and branches distributed thr ...

system, and she also managed a branch in the

Sears, Roebuck Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwal ...

store in that city, which served the store's employees. In 1914 she relocated with her family to San Diego, California, and during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

she helped furnish books to soldiers at Camp Kearny, California, outside of San Diego. She worked in the

San Diego Public Library The San Diego Public Library is a public library system serving San Diego, California. History The San Diego Public Library was established on May 19, 1882, by an elected board of library trustees, one of whom was civic leader and philant ...

system and was the head librarian there from 1916 to 1926. She moved to the Los Angeles Public Library in the latter year, having been chosen to oversee all the system's branch libraries. In 1933 she became LAPL head librarian, one of six women overseeing large public libraries in the United States at that time. In November 1941, Warren, who was considered "#1 in the field of Women Librarians," took a leave from her Los Angeles job to become director of the ALA's National Defense Book Campaign, which sought to collect and organize distribution of books to American servicemen. The campaign, headquartered in New York City, eventually became known among her closest friends as "Warren's child."Molly Guptill Manning, ''When Books Went to War'' (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014), Warren was

California Library Association Established in 1895, the California Library Association (CLA) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organizatioHistory – California Library AssociationMembers of CLA include library staff members, professional librarians, library and information ...

president in 1921 and

(ALA) president in 1943-1944. She worked on the national level to increase federal aid to libraries and to end discrimination faced by African American librarians at ALA conference hotels. Warren retired in 1947 and then taught in

library science Library and information science (LIS)Library and Information Sciences is the name used in the Dewey Decimal Classification for class 20 from the 18th edition (1971) to the 22nd edition (2003). are two interconnected disciplines that deal with info ...

programs in Wisconsin and Michigan and at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

Personal life

Warren had a romantic relationship with Gladys English, the Los Angeles Public Library's head of the Children's Department. They lived and travelled together for years. After English died, Warren created the American Library Association's Gladys English Memorial Collection, also called the Gladys English Collection.

References

External links

Althea B. Warren Papers, 1942-1945, The American Library Association Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Warren, Althea 1886 births 1958 deaths People from Waukegan, Illinois University of Chicago alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Library and Information Studies alumni Presidents of the American Library Association American librarians American women librarians University of Southern California faculty LGBTQ people from Illinois American women academics American Library Association people