Ellen Coolidge Burke (May 10, 1901 – December 29, 1975) was an American librarian.

Life

Burke was born in

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

, Virginia, to Henry Randolph Burke, and Rosella Gordon Trist. Burke's family was descended from

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

. Burke gained her BA and MA at the

Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Catholic research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is one of two pontifical universities of the Catholic Church in the United States – the only one that is not primarily a ...

, Washington, D.C. She worked in the Alexandria Library for nearly a decade as cataloger and reference librarian, becoming director from 1948, until she retired in June 1969. Burke brought

bookmobile A bookmobile, or mobile library, is a vehicle designed for use as a library. They have been known by many names throughout history, including traveling library, library wagon, book wagon, book truck, library-on-wheels, and book auto service. Boo ...

services to Alexandria, one of the first services in Virginia. She oversaw the growth of the library system by the addition of two new branch libraries. In April 1968 the Ellen Coolidge Burke Branch at 4701 Seminary Road was opened, and in December 1969 the James M. Duncan branch at 2501 Commonwealth Avenue. Burke belonged to a number of professional library associations. She was an active member of the

League of Women Voters The League of Women Voters (LWV) is a nonpartisan American nonprofit political organization. Founded in 1920, its ongoing major activities include Voter registration, registering voters, providing voter information, boosting voter turnout and adv ...

and of the

Urban League The National Urban League (NUL), formerly known as the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, is a nonpartisan historic civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of economic and social justice for Afri ...

, as well as other civic groups. Burke died on December 29, 1975, and is buried at Ivy Hill Cemetery, Alexandria.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Burke, Ellen Coolidge 1901 births 1975 deaths People from Alexandria, Virginia Librarians from Virginia 20th-century American women librarians 20th-century American librarians Catholic University of America alumni