Mary Irene Stanton (February 11, 1862 – August 26, 1946) was an American teacher and the founder of the

El Paso Public Library The El Paso Public Libraries is the municipal public library system of El Paso, Texas, El Paso, Texas. The library serves the needs the public in El Paso, Texas, Chaparral, New Mexico and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. It consists of 14 branches and one ...

. She was born in Georgia and taught for many years before the founding of the library, and continued to teach after leaving her position as president of the El Paso Public Library Association.

Education and early teaching career

Stanton attended the

University of North Georgia The University of North Georgia (UNG) is a public university with multiple campuses in Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. It is part of the University System of Georgia. The university was established on January 8, 2013, through a m ...

, then called the North Georgia Agricultural College, to receive her teaching degree. She also received her B.S. from the Austin Female Seminary, which was located in Plainville, Georgia. In 1884, she left Georgia to live in El Paso, Texas. She began teaching a third-grade class the same year. Stanton attended Canterbury College, then called Central Normal College, to further pursue teaching. Stanton began teaching again in 1886.

Founding of the library and role in El Paso Public Library Association

El Paso Public Library Carnegie Building

Stanton started a reading club in 1894; she made her collection of 600-800 books available to her high-school students. The collection was soon made available to women and men of all ages. Volunteers helped to keep the library open. Her library grew quickly, and the books were soon transferred to a larger room. By 1896, the El Paso Public Library association was founded with five members, and she was its president. The library's 2,000 books were transferred to a room in City Hall after El Paso citizens petitioned for a larger library space. The library association sought and received a grant from

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie ( , ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the History of the iron and steel industry in the United States, American steel industry in the late ...

to build a library building independent of the city hall. The library was opened in April 1904. Stanton left her position as president of the library association in 1903.

Later teaching career and retirement

In 1916, Stanton resigned from the public school system in El Paso. By 1921 she left El Paso for

Tularosa, New Mexico Tularosa is a villageFor census purposes it is called a village, but in New Mexico it is historically called a town. See, for example, Otero, Miguel A. (1903) ''Report of the Governor of New Mexico to the Secretary of the Interior - 1903'' Gover ...

, and continued to teach there until 1925. She returned to El Paso in 1928, where she remained until her death in 1946. Stanton was buried in Evergreen Cemetery in El Paso, Texas.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stanton, Mary Irene 1862 births 1946 deaths Librarians from Georgia (U.S. state) American women librarians People from Whitfield County, Georgia Educators from El Paso, Texas 19th-century American educators Schoolteachers from Georgia (U.S. state) University of North Georgia alumni Canterbury College (Indiana) alumni People from Tularosa, New Mexico 19th-century American women educators