Interview with John S. Davidson, January 13, 1972

Interview with John S. Davidson, January 13, 1972

Muhlenberg College

John Sumner Davidson, librarian and professor at Muhlenberg College from 1940 until 1973, reflects on his experiences prior to Muhlenberg, and how he came to work at the College. Davidson chiefly discusses the Muhlenberg College library itself, including the book collection and the physical space. Davidson discusses his interactions with many different colleagues at Muhlenberg College including: Dr. Levering Tyson, Dr. Robert Horn, Dr. Katherine Van Eerde, Dr. James Swain, and Professor Luther Deck. The later portion of the interview includes a discussion about the library staff, specifically Assistant Librarian Mary Funk, and the relationship Davidson built with the surrounding Lehigh Valley libraries which led to the Lehigh Valley Association of Independent Colleges and the interlibrary loan system. The interview concludes with Davidson's accomplishments and how his only regret is not seeing the creation of a new library building on Muhlenberg's campus.

1972-12-13

video

JSD_02

Katherine Van Eerde

Philip Secor

John Sumner Davidson

00:48:34

5.4 December 13, 1972 Interview with John S. Davidson, January 13, 1972 JSD_02 00:48:34 JSD_Faculty John S. Davidson Oral History Collection Muhlenberg College: Trexler Library Oral History Repository Courtesy Special Collections and Archives, Trexler Library, Muhlenberg College. With thanks to Gabriella Petrone '21 for transcribing and indexing. Muhlenberg College Muhlenberg College Muhlenberg College Library Levering Tyson Mary Funk Haas Library Librarian John Sumner Davidson Katherine Van Eerde Philip Secor audio/wav 1:|11(7)|24(11)|34(14)|44(11)|54(5)|65(5)|72(14)|81(12)|94(1)|106(5)|116(11)|128(14)|143(10)|155(7)|168(4)|178(9)|187(2)|196(4)|207(12)|218(3)|229(13)|242(6)|253(8)|266(2)|277(15)|289(13)|299(4)|316(6)|326(13)|335(1)|346(11)|356(9)|366(9)|383(13)|391(9)|402(6)|410(13)|418(10)|427(10)|434(8)|439(14)|451(12)|461(11)|480(9)|494(1)|506(1)|515(4)|525(3) 0 YouTube video &lt ; iframe width=&quot ; 560&quot ; height=&quot ; 315&quot ; src=&quot ; https://www.youtube.com/embed/3PeuHGL8Crk&quot ; title=&quot ; YouTube video player&quot ; frameborder=&quot ; 0&quot ; allow=&quot ; accelerometer ; autoplay=0 ; clipboard-write ; encrypted-media ; gyroscope ; picture-in-picture&quot ; allowfullscreen&gt ; &lt ; /iframe&gt ; English 0 Interview Introduction Philip Secor: This is Philip Secor speaking. I'm the Dean of Muhlenberg College talking to you from the Muhlenberg Room of the college library on this 13th day of December, 1972. This tape is intended to be part of an oral history of Muhlenberg, consisting primarily of conversations with senior members of the College community. Dr. Katherine Van Eerde, Professor of History at the College, will be conducting this afternoon's interview conversation with John Sumner Davidson, librarian and professor at Muhlenberg. John Sumner Davidson ; Katherine Van Eerde ; Muhlenberg College ; Muhlenberg College Library ; Philip Secor 67 Experience prior to arrival at Muhlenberg Dr. Van Eerde: Thank you, Dean Secor. As the Dean has just said, John, you came to Muhlenberg in 1940. Can you tell us something of the circumstances of your seeking and gaining your position? John Sumner Davidson: To be perfectly frank with you, I want to start off by saying I did not seek the position. American Library Association ; Carl Milan ; Levering Tyson ; Louisville, Kentucky ; Muhlenberg College ; Syracuse University ; The University of the South ; WPA Library Project 337 Interviewing at Muhlenberg KVE: What kind of a man was Dr.Tyson, John? You’ve talked about him to me at times, and I think what comes through is a very vivid personality. JSD: Let me go into that easily if you will, by saying a few more words about my first meeting with him. Allentown, Pennsylvania ; Levering Tyson ; Library Committee of the Board of Trustees ; Library Committee of the Faculty ; Mary Funk ; Muhlenberg College Library ; Syracuse University 492 Promotion to full professor KVE: You know, I’ve spent minutes and perhaps even hours sitting in the black chair in your office. One of the best stories I have heard during those happy times was your story on how you gained tenure. Could you tell us about that now? JSD: Well, that is simply an amusing story I think, and since you have asked me to say something about Dr. Tyson, and I had said relatively little, I think this is another good story in connection with Dr. Tyson. American Library Association ; Carl Milan ; Greensboro, North Carolina ; Levering Tyson ; Luther Deck ; Muhlenberg College ; Muhlenberg College Library ; Women's College of North Carolina 825 Description of the library KVE: It’s probably time for us to get on to the main stream of the story of you at Muhlenberg, John. And that involves the library itself. You know the name Chauncy Brewster Tinker of Yale, who used to say there were two necessary ingredients of a great university. One was a library, and one was people to use it. 1928 ; 1963 ; Alumni Executive Council ; Art Department ; Board of Trustees ; Chauncy Brewster Tinker ; Classics Department ; Columbia University ; Columbia University Library ; English Department ; Lehigh Valley Art Alliance ; Muhlenberg College ; Muhlenberg College Library ; Music Department ; Veterans Administration Office ; Yale University 1103 The book collection JSD: Well, it is almost incredible when one thinks now of the inadequacies in the building ; at this moment, space-wise, arrangement-wise, that-- that few years ago, it could have from time to time and sometimes almost simultaneously, house all of these other activities. The book collection consisted of about fifty thousand books. Book Collection ; Muhlenberg College Library 1189 The faculty lounge KVE: About how many people did the library seat? Do you have any idea? JSD: There were only the two main reading rooms, nothing else whatsoever. The lounge room at that time when I first came was the faculty lounge. And it was locked and each faculty member had a key. And over the course of a year of observing it, only one faculty member ever came into it. Chemistry Department ; Faculty Lounge ; George Brandes ; Reading Rooms 1243 Dr. Van Eerde's first memory of Davidson KVE: There’s a point that I would like to inject now [clears throat]. Which I suppose you won’t really appreciate, John. But my first memory of you, and an enduring one, is as-- of a person who kept sending me items of books that were coming out, items of books that had come out, catalogs of things that were impending, or had already appeared. You’ve kept jogging me into ordering books until I realized that there was somebody who was really interested in building an area that had been somewhat neglected for a while. John Sumner Davidson 1289 Funding JSD: I think that we are not by any means yet an outstanding library, and we most probably never will be here. But I think we have every reason to call ourselves a good library. There’s always the matter of funds. When I first came, the budget for books and periodicals was $2,500 a year. English History ; German History ; German Literature ; William Wilbur 1360 The Muhlenberg Room KVE: I couldn’t have done it alone, if you guys had not [inaudible] ; however, enough of this. Now, how about the Muhlenberg Room itself. We are sitting in it. It’s a unique room ; it has not yet had its door unlocked, as you told us, the faculty lounge-- the once faculty lounge had. It's a, on the very top of the library, and not very many people know much about it. Perhaps it should be kept that way. Nevertheless, your knowledge of what is in the Muhlenberg Room and its purposes should be shared with others. I think at least on this tape. 1942 ; Alumni Writings ; American Indian ; Art Department ; Classics Department ; Faculty Writings ; George Rickey ; History Department ; James Swain ; Levering Tyson ; Muhlenberg College ; Muhlenberg College Library ; Muhlenberg Room ; Phi Betta Kappa ; Robert Horn ; Theodore Seip ; Treasure Collection 1659 Research rooms KVE: John, one of the nicest things about this library is those rooms for research-- are those rooms for research down in the basement. I remember when you furnished a couple of them with very fine furniture, and told me when I asked for space that I couldn’t have any because I already had my doctorate. 1928 ; Ettinger Building ; Faculty Study Rooms ; Katherine Van Eerde ; Muhlenberg College ; Muhlenberg College Library ; Philip Secor ; Research Rooms ; Student Group Study Rooms 1930 Library stacks JSD: I must go back just a little bit though, because when I came there were five levels of stacks. There are now eight. The upper reaches were a large open space which served admirably for a while for the art department studio. Art Department ; Levering Tyson ; Muhlenberg College ; Muhlenberg College Library ; Muhlenberg College Library Stacks 2022 Reading room portraits KVE: Just one quick question now, John, about those reading rooms downstairs. They’re lined with portraits of people. Could you tell us a little bit about them? JSD: I don’t know whether you would call those portraits art or not. When I came to the library the first time, the portraits of the four first presidents were in the lobby. Conrad Seegers ; Erling N. Jensen ; Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg ; George Taylor Ettinger ; J.P. Benjamin Sadtler ; John A.W. Haas ; Levering Tyson ; Muhlenberg College ; Muhlenberg College Library ; Robert Horn ; Seegers Union Building ; Theodore Lorenzo Seip 2106 Library staff KVE: We’ve been dealing at some length with the physical appearance and contents of the library. It’s time now that we moved to staff, the people with whom you’ve worked so closely, and in some cases for such a long period of time at Muhlenberg. Could you tell us about the staff over the years? English Department ; Helen Richards Horn ; Levering Tyson ; Mrs.Allen ; Reading Public Library ; Richard L. Brown ; Steven G. Simpson 2296 Assistant Librarian Mary Funk JSD: It would be entirely inappropriate, no, not to spend a little time speaking of Miss Mary Funk. She was here when I came. She is the one who led me into the present lounge room for my conference. She had been a librarian at Kutztown State Teachers College, as it was then. And had been brought here in the summer of 1939 by Mr. Brown, my predecessor. He having resigned, she was the only person here when I arrived that summer. 1939 ; 1969 ; Assistant Librarian ; Kutztown State Teachers College ; Mary Funk ; Muhlenberg College ; Muhlenberg College Library 2474 Relationship with Lehigh Valley Libraries KVE: I know that all of us who dealt with Miss Funk remember her with gratitude and with great happiness about her concern for our problems. As we move into the world of increasing cooperation within the Lehigh Valley, it’s appropriate to ask about your longstanding associations, and in some cases friendships, with the other valley librarians, and what that’s led to. Not just in terms of personal contact but of changes for the library. Allentown Public Library ; Easton Public Library ; Howard Seavoy Leach ; Lafayette College Library ; Lehigh University Library ; Lehigh Valley ; Lehigh Valley Association of Independent Colleges ; Mary Funk ; Rosenberg Case ; Theodore Norton 2681 Reflections on accomplishments and hopes for the future KVE: There’s a double-barreled kind of question that I’d like to put to you, and a big one. Now, what are your proudest, most pride-filled, accomplishments? And what, on the other hand, do you think you’re not going to see finished in your time as librarian? JSD: Well I think that there are two accomplishments, if I may be so bold as to say so, that are worthy of mentioning. Interlibrary Loan System ; Lehigh Valley Colleges ; Lehigh Valley Consortium ; Muhlenberg College ; Muhlenberg College Library ; Muhlenberg College Library Book Collection 2892 Closing remarks KVE: Thank you very much John, for giving us a resume of the last thirty-three years at Muhlenberg seen through the eyes of the librarian. John Sumner Davidson ; Muhlenberg College ; Muhlenberg College Library Sound John Sumner Davidson, librarian and professor at Muhlenberg College from 1940 until 1973, reflects on his experiences prior to Muhlenberg, and how he came to work at the College. Davidson chiefly discusses the Muhlenberg College library itself, including the book collection and the physical space. Davidson discusses his interactions with many different colleagues at Muhlenberg College including: Dr. Levering Tyson, Dr. Robert Horn, Dr. Katherine Van Eerde, Dr. James Swain, and Professor Luther Deck. The later portion of the interview includes a discussion about the library staff, specifically Assistant Librarian Mary Funk, and the relationship Davidson built with the surrounding Lehigh Valley libraries which led to the Lehigh Valley Association of Independent Colleges and the interlibrary loan system. The interview concludes with Davidson's accomplishments and how his only regret is not seeing the creation of a new library building on Muhlenberg's campus. Philip Secor: This is Philip Secor speaking. I&#039 ; m the Dean of Muhlenberg College talking to you from the Muhlenberg Room of the college library on this 13th day of December, 1972. This tape is intended to be part of an oral history of Muhlenberg, consisting primarily of conversations with senior members of the College community. Dr. Katherine Van Eerde, Professor of History at the College, will be conducting this afternoon&#039 ; s interview conversation with John Sumner Davidson, librarian and professor at Muhlenberg. John Davidson has been college librarian since 1940. He retires at the end of the present academic year after thirty-three years of service. Mr. Davidson has often suggested the importance of having an oral history as part of the college archives. I am delighted that he has agreed to inaugurate this project by talking with Dr. Van Eerde this afternoon. Dr. Van Eerde. Dr. Van Eerde: Thank you, Dean Secor. As the Dean has just said, John, you came to Muhlenberg in 1940. Can you tell us something of the circumstances of your seeking and gaining your position? John Sumner Davidson: To be perfectly frank with you, I want to start off by saying I did not seek the position. Although I&#039 ; m very happy--always have been happy--that I gained it. I think perhaps a little background, before I actually explain the coming to Muhlenberg might make it more significant as to why I came. I had been an instructor in the English department at Syracuse University for some nine years. I left to go to my undergraduate alma mater, the University of the South, Sewanee, in a temporary position as Associate Librarian for one year, while the Associate Librarian was on leave. During the spring of 1940, I went to an American Library Association meeting in Cincinnati and there met the Executive Secretary of the American Library Association, a Mr. Carl Milan, who suggested to me that I take the position in Kentucky, particularly for the administrative experience which it would give me as Supervisor of the WPA library project for the State of Kentucky. JSD: Well, it sounded big and it was big: there were some four hundred eighty-five relief workers throughout the state engaged in various library activities. For the state of Kentucky at that time was far behind in the distribution, dissemination, and use of books. And it was romantic too in a certain sense, in that books were put on--in saddle bags, and librarians went up the mountain pass in the eastern part of the state to deliver them. JSD: All that aside, the actual working conditions were so miserable, that after I&#039 ; d been there perhaps one week I decided that almost anything would be better [background laughter] than being supervisor of the WPA library project for the State of Kentucky. We were housed in a tremendous warehouse in Louisville, hundreds of supervisory personnel. No one knowing whether he was coming or going, with the red tape of the United States government at that time in these new projects was so tremendous, and the persons involved in the upper echelons of administration were so incompetent, that I could see right away really nothing was going to be accomplished. So when about two months later a telegram came to me from Dr. Levering Tyson, then President of Muhlenberg, asking me if I would be willing to be considered for the position of Librarian here, and if I could come for an interview, I decided immediately that I would be happy to. JSD: Unfortunately, my own ignorance was such that I had never heard of Muhlenberg College. I crossed the state of Pennsylvania a great many times from Syracuse to my home in Kensington, Maryland, which was a suburb of Washington. But all of those trips had been up and down the Susquehanna Valley. And, I had never had reason to come east to Allentown. So I went to the Louisville Public Library and I found a book which described, in about two sentences, Muhlenberg College and it sounded good. And I wired Dr.Tyson that I would be delighted to come. And I came. KVE: What kind of a man was Dr.Tyson, John? You&#039 ; ve talked about him to me at times, and I think what comes through is a very vivid personality. JSD: Let me go into that easily if you will, by saying a few more words about my first meeting with him. In my position at Louisville, I had no leave whatsoever. I pretended that I must see the operations of the libraries in the northeastern part of the state and took off in my car and came almost without stopping, from Louisville to Allentown. And arrived, fortunately, about five minutes before the set time for the interview. I was led into the present lounge room in the library by Miss Funk, of whom I will say something later, the Assistant Librarian. And there met Dr. Tyson, the members of the Library Committee of the Board of Trustees, and the members of the Library Committee of the Faculty. And I was scared.The library impressed me tremendously as I walked into it ; actually it was a much more imposing building then, as it is now, I think, than the library at Syracuse University. I can&#039 ; t remember any details of the interview, but I was finally asked to leave. And in a few moments Dr. Tyson came out. The letters and telegrams had indicated that I would come as a full professor. Dr. Tyson came to ask me if I would accept the position as an assistant professor. There was no Associate Professor rank at Muhlenberg at that time. Very kindly, I think, the salary which had been offered me, of $2,700 a year, was not reduced along with the rank [background laughter]. I had no hesitation about accepting the position at the Assistant Professor&#039 ; s rank. Because, well, after all, I wanted to come, didn&#039 ; t I? KVE: You know, I&#039 ; ve spent minutes and perhaps even hours sitting in the black chair in your office. One of the best stories I have heard during those happy times was your story on how you gained tenure. Could you tell us about that now? JSD: Well, that is simply an amusing story I think, and since you have asked me to say something about Dr. Tyson, and I had said relatively little, I think this is another good story in connection with Dr. Tyson. I had been here about a year when I received a letter asking if I would come to the then-Woman&#039 ; s College of North Carolina at Greensboro to be interviewed for the librarianship there. I must put in right now again that Mr. Carl Milan, of the American Library Association, had been responsible for that recommendation. And I must say further that I didn&#039 ; t know Mr. Carl Milan. I met him at Cincinnati, at that meeting, to talk to him perhaps five minutes and that was the only contact I ever had with him in my life. KVE: Clearly you impressed him. JSD: Well, he was a friend of Dr. Tyson for one thing, and that is why he recommended me here. And, before I get on with the tenure I will say one more thing. After I went to Greensboro and after I came back, Dr. Tyson told me personally that he had seen Carl Milan, and he had told him that he was never to recommend me anywhere else, as long as Dr. Tyson was here [background laughter]. I did have a few other bites of things but none of them ever came through Carl Milan. JSD: Well, to get back to the tenure. I thought it my duty. That was all. I had no ulterior motive whatsoever in going to Dr. Tyson and telling him, since I had at that time reported directly to the President, that I was going away for three to four days--after all, he might miss me, I don&#039 ; t know--that I was going to be interviewed for another position. Dr. Tyson seemed to take it very calmly. There was no comment much, other than that he hoped I had a pleasant trip. This occurred in the morning. And sometime after lunch around two or three o&#039 ; clock or so, [background bell tower chimes] I was sitting at my desk in the office in the library, and Dr. Tyson came really huffing and puffing in. Dr.Tyson was short and slightly on the heavy side, and I think slightly affected by high blood pressure. And so he really huffed and puffed. And he said, I have been in contact by phone with a number of trustees, and I want you to know hereby you are elevated from Assistant Professor to Full Professor. Well, this had no relationship in his conversation to my going to North Carolina, but I some way personally connected the two [background laughter].That did not, however, deter me from going. And I went and I did not get the position, and I came back, I assumed, a full professor. KVE: Did that imply tenure? JSD: Nobody knew anything about tenure in those days, at least I didn&#039 ; t. I didn&#039 ; t. KVE: There is an epilogue I think to this, isn&#039 ; t there? Involving Professor Deck, and the famous precessional line of academic kind? JSD: Dr.Tyson put nothing whatsoever into writing. And, I will say that sometimes he said one thing orally to one person, and quite the opposite on the same subject to someone else. I assumed I had the rank of Professor for what he had said. The first academic procession however, I found myself still among the assistant professors. And, it wasn&#039 ; t a matter of great consequence to me. Of course there is a little pride in all of us I guess. And so Professor Luther Deck, of the Mathematics Department, who was at that time-- KVE: Marshal JSD: --Marshal of the College, was approached by me. And I said, &quot ; Luther, hereafter don&#039 ; t you think I should take my rightful place?&quot ; &quot ; What is your rightful place?&quot ; he said, &quot ; Other than the place where I have put you?&quot ; And so I said that there had been an oral understanding between me and Dr. Tyson, to the effect that I was now a full professor. Well, he had never heard of it. I began to inquire of some other people and no one had ever heard of it. But Luther Deck was a very conscientious, very thorough person. And he took it upon himself to find out the facts of the case. And it was not more than a year, I&#039 ; m sure, before I got moved up where I rightfully belong. KVE: It&#039 ; s probably time for us to get on to the main stream of the story of you at Muhlenberg, John. And that involves the library itself. You know the name Chauncy Brewster Tinker of Yale, who used to say there were two necessary ingredients of a great university. One was a library, and one was people to use it. But the library came first, and was most important. Because if you-- more important-- because if you destroy the people, you can get the students in a few years, and the faculty in a few more. It would take a long, long, time to build the library. It&#039 ; s an idea that I have never failed to appreciate. So could you tell us a bit about the kind of library you found when you arrived here? The physical space, the books, the seating, and so-on. JSD: Well, as I have said a few moments ago, as I walked into the building, through the one of the back doors--at that time the back doors were open, there were three public entrances and exits to the building--I was much impressed by the appearance of it. The library had been completed and occupied about 1928. And, it was done somewhat in the grand style, which was typical of libraries at that time ; at which the Columbia library is one of the-- Columbia University Libraries-- is one of the prime horrible examples I think [background laughter]. I might give an idea, as I was impressed, yes. JSD: But I soon found out that all of this imposing building was not the library, and that the library as a matter of fact occupied only a small part of it. And that we sort of rattled around in something which was larger, some areas at that time unused and other areas used. To give you an idea of what has happened in this building-- I am not prepared anything really for what I&#039 ; m saying today, and I brought no prompts, except one, which was my annual report for the &#039 ; 62-&#039 ; 63 academic year--. But speaking of library building, I think that this is a really interesting phase of it. So I will read: &quot ; Beginning with the fall of 1963 term, the library building will be given over entirely to library activities for the first time in its thirty-three years of existence. There are undoubtedly few persons who could recall all of the uses to which this building had been put through the years. But it has served the various needs of the College as few other buildings have. It has provided space for the President&#039 ; s office, the meetings of the Board of Trustees, of the faculty, of the alumni Executive Council, for the meetings of student clubs and organizations, including their parties and dances.The faculty Women&#039 ; s Club held their bridge sessions in it. The English, Classics, Music, and Art Departments have all had their offices and classrooms in it. While for some time the scraping sound of engineering drawing stools and benches from up above, kept would-be students on edge in the reading rooms. Student registration was held here. A faculty wife maintained her private art studio in it [background laughter]. And for years it was the exhibition gallery of the Lehigh Valley Art Alliance. Then there have been large areas given over to the storage of indescribable college junk: the college electrician shop, a navy store, a radio station, a barbershop [Dr. Van Eerde: &quot ; ha, unbelievable&quot ; ]. For longer or shorter periods during emergencies, the campus knew it also as the Veterans Administration Office, the Treasurer&#039 ; s Office, the Athletic Office, and the list is not yet complete.&quot ; KVE: That&#039 ; s a stunning rehearsal of uses for this building. JSD: Well, it is almost incredible when one thinks now of the inadequacies in the building ; at this moment, space-wise, arrangement-wise, that-- that few years ago, it could have from time to time and sometimes almost simultaneously, house all of these other activities. The book collection consisted of about fifty thousand books. It was not a very good book collection. There were duplications. Like so many struggling colleges through the early 1900s, volume rather than quality seemed to be the prevailing desire on the part of the institution, as far as its library is concerned. I can remember coming upon nineteen copies of the 1917 report of the Pennsylvania Board of Education, all properly accessioned, and classified, and shelved together in the stacks. I don&#039 ; t know what else I can say about the College at that time. KVE: About how many people did the library seat? Do you have any idea? JSD: There were only the two main reading rooms, nothing else whatsoever. The lounge room at that time when I first came was the faculty lounge. And it was locked and each faculty member had a key. And over the course of a year of observing it, only one faculty member ever came into it. That was Dr. George Brandes of the Chemistry Department, who came daily, took The New York Times, opened the door with this key, read The New York Times, came out, and locked the door again [background laughter, Dr. Van Eerde: &quot ; what were the uses?&quot ; ]. The other uses of course, at other times, were for full faculty meetings and for the ladies&#039 ; bridge parties. KVE: There&#039 ; s a point that I would like to inject now [clears throat]. Which I suppose you won&#039 ; t really appreciate, John. But my first memory of you, and an enduring one, is as-- of a person who kept sending me items of books that were coming out, items of books that had come out, catalogs of things that were impending, or had already appeared. You&#039 ; ve kept jogging me into ordering books until I realized that there was somebody who was really interested in building an area that had been somewhat neglected for a while. I know you&#039 ; ve done that with many other people too, and it&#039 ; s only right that some statement should be made about the matter of quality, which I&#039 ; m sure you&#039 ; ve had a big hand in, and it&#039 ; s not just quantity here. JSD: I think that we are not by any means yet an outstanding library, and we most probably never will be here. But I think we have every reason to call ourselves a good library. There&#039 ; s always the matter of funds. When I first came, the budget for books and periodicals was $2,500 a year. Next year, hopefully it will be $65,000. So money had to go in every direction possible, and it went chiefly into those areas of teaching where faculty members were active [Dr Van Eerde: &quot ; right&quot ; ]. You, being an authority in English history [Dr. Van Eerde: inaudible] came to teach English history. Dr. William Wilbur had preceded you by some few years, and had started the very first collection of English history books. German history, German literature, such were in greater numbers, of course. But it has been you who has built the English history collection. KVE: I couldn&#039 ; t have done it alone, if you guys had not [inaudible] ; however, enough of this. Now, how about the Muhlenberg Room itself. We are sitting in it. It&#039 ; s a unique room ; it has not yet had its door unlocked, as you told us, the faculty lounge-- the once faculty lounge had. It&#039 ; s a, on the very top of the library, and not very many people know much about it. Perhaps it should be kept that way. Nevertheless, your knowledge of what is in the Muhlenberg Room and its purposes should be shared with others. I think at least on this tape. JSD: Well if you want to consider the Muhlenberg Room in a sense a microcosm of many other areas of the library, it would serve well. When I first came here, this was the history seminar room. No historian to my knowledge ever appeared in it [background laughter]. Dr. James Swain, the head of the department, was very jealous however, of the fact that it was the only department in the College which had its own seminar room.The room was chiefly filled with a collection of Indian relics. And I am inclined to think a very fine and valuable collection of relics. KVE: American Indian? JSD: American Indian, yes. About 1942, I received a memo from Dr. Tyson instructing me to clear the room, since it would become, with the arrival of Mr. George Rickey, the classroom for the Art Department, which would be established in the library. And I had nothing to do with all of these Indian relics, there was-- put them where?-- there were no storage buildings at the College then, there was no place for anything. I stuffed them down in a closet under the stairs, where they suffered from moisture. I--I--that may sound strange, Indian flints don&#039 ; t suffer much from moisture, but all of the labels on them fell off or ran, so that they were not really identifiable. And I was very sorry for it, but there was no other place to put them in the whole College. Finally, they disappeared from the library.They were taken out and their ultimate location or loss, I know nothing about. They&#039 ; re just gone, that&#039 ; s all I can say. KVE: What are in these locked cases that you see around this room? JSD: Presently the room is very much of a hodge-podge. It is one of those places in which you put things that you have no other place to put. It houses first of all the collection of the writings which have been given to us, in most cases of graduates of the College, of faculty members while they have been at Muhlenberg, and in a very few instances of student writings, published books even, while they were students at Muhlenberg. It consists also of the so-called &quot ; Treasure collection,&quot ; which is small but has some very fine items in it. It had been named &quot ; Treasure collection&quot ; before I came. I don&#039 ; t like the term because it does not necessarily follow that all of the items in it are of great monetary value. I think a term like &quot ; rare books&quot ; is a far better name, but it has retained its name of &quot ; Treasure collection.&quot ; The table at which we are sitting is a rather magnificent table, which came from the dining room of Dr.Seip, who was president of the College at one time. Behind us is a case of classical relics which had been collected by Dr. Robert Horn, head of the Classics Department. And at one time the College was so short of space that Dr. Horn, upon his retirement-- his classroom was taken away. His office was closed and he came to me literally with tears in his eyes and said &quot ; They tell me they are going to throw out my classics collection. Have you any place where you could house it?&quot ; So I said of course we had, and it is here, another oddity in a sense in this room. KVE: There&#039 ; s another oddity, I came to you not I think with tears in my eyes, but with real anxiety that you should house our Phi Beta Kappa records.There seem to be no other place of substance and solidity in the College, and you have very kindly given us room for that. Though it occupies much less space then Dr.Horn&#039 ; s. JSD: It has not as yet become a burden. KVE: Thank you, I am glad to hear that. KVE: John, one of the nicest things about this library is those rooms for research-- are those rooms for research down in the basement. I remember when you furnished a couple of them with very fine furniture, and told me when I asked for space that I couldn&#039 ; t have any because I already had my doctorate. You did give me a hole in a pokey little room at the very end of the library. And after I proved my devotion, you transferred me and promoted me to one of the nicer rooms where I&#039 ; m happy to say, I still have space. Could you tell us a bit about those research rooms, and how they came into being, and how they have been used? JSD: Well perhaps I can, if you will remind me to get up to that at last by starting way back. I had said that the library building was finished in 1928. And there was of course a history of a library before that. Until that time, the library had been housed in a single room, on the second floor, of the present Ettinger building. It had overflowed. And a great many books had been passed out to faculty members in their offices with no record whatsoever having been made as to where they were. This building was sufficient of course, more than sufficient to re-capture those books and bring them back. And a great many were brought back and a great many never were. Now let&#039 ; s see, as to the faculty study rooms. The building is old ; it was not one of the most modern buildings when it was designed. Faculty study rooms were not a common item in such a building when it was built. But as time went on, a great many things developed in the library world which had not been anticipated whatsoever in this building. And one of those was the matter of a place where faculty members might get away in a relatively quiet and peaceful surroundings, and pursue their work particularly toward their doctorates. There were many young people at the College at that time, as there usually are, who were working on their doctorates and who needed a place other than the crowded faculty offices or their homes, which often contain wives and children. So out of a rather dismal corner of the basement I had constructed three. No, there are only two, aren&#039 ; t there? KVE: Two JSD: Two, yes, the third was to be in the corner and never got used [background laughter]. Two rooms, of where faculty members might do this work. As for you Katherine, being deprived of your opportunities to advance your research, it was not intentional [Dr. Van Eerde: &quot ; oh no&quot ; ]. It was simply I&#039 ; m sure that the rooms were occupied by those persons who had that moment were felt most needing it. And I might say, since the Dean sits here relatively quietly, that at one time there was such a demand for the rooms that I asked the Dean if he would assume the responsibility for assigning them. Since he was in a much better position than I to know what the actual needs of the faculty members were. This is just one indication of what has happened here. Up in the upper northwest corner, three student group study rooms were created out of a large unusable room. And this again is something that all libraries today are equipped with. Groups can go in there, talk, have access to a blackboard and chalk if they want to work things out together, and close themselves in and not bother anybody else. JSD: I must go back just a little bit though, because when I came there were five levels of stacks. There are now eight. The upper reaches were a large open space which served admirably for a while for the art department studio. It being northern light, and beautiful northern light coming in there. But the time came when we had to have more floors. And so the College received some sort of money through one of its innumerable drives. And Dr. Tyson, who was always library minded, saw to it that we added three more stack levels. And at the same time put in an elevator in the empty elevator shaft, which had been there since the building had been constructed. It was hard enough to haul books by hand through five levels but it would have been impossible to have managed them through eight. So little by little, every inch of space in the building has been taken up with one library activity or another. Do you call your activity a library activity? Library-related activities certainly are. KVE: I could not work without the books. JSD: There are a few outsiders still occupying space, aren&#039 ; t they? Yes, a few. Well they are welcome, that&#039 ; s all. KVE: Good, good, thanks. KVE: Just one quick question now, John, about those reading rooms downstairs. They&#039 ; re lined with portraits of people. Could you tell us a little bit about them? JSD: I don&#039 ; t know whether you would call those portraits art or not. When I came to the library the first time, the portraits of the four first presidents were in the lobby. These were: Muhlenberg, Sadtler, Seip, and Haas. John A.W. Haas, for whom the library has since been named. Since then, pictures of Dr. Tyson and Dr. Seegers and Dr. Jensen have been added. Dr. Seegers&#039 ; s portrait has unfortunately, from the point of view of continuity, been removed at Dr. Seegers&#039 ; s request and taken to the Seegers Union building, where it now hangs. In addition, on one of the reading room walls there are portraits of the first two deans. Dean Ettinger who served for many, many years and Dean Robert Horn. KVE: We&#039 ; ve been dealing at some length with the physical appearance and contents of the library. It&#039 ; s time now that we moved to staff, the people with whom you&#039 ; ve worked so closely, and in some cases for such a long period of time at Muhlenberg. Could you tell us about the staff over the years? JSD: Well of course it is only right to go back briefly before the time which I came. A Mr. Brown was the first professional librarian hired to be Librarian of this college. He had come in 1938 and had been appointed by Dr. Tyson. And as I think was one of Dr. Tyson&#039 ; s fine moves, to put the library for the first time under a person who had had some training and experience. Prior to that Dr. Steven G. Simpson of the English Department had served for many, many years as librarian. A very fine, mild-mannered man who knew nothing about libraries but was glad to do what he could. He told me that he often looked in once a week [background laughter]. The cataloging and everything else was done by students for the most part. Although Mrs. Allen, the wife of a former professor here, had served for some time as an assistant librarian, and Mrs-- the second Mrs. Robert Horn had served too, as an assistant librarian. They had been the only people who were, other than students-- who had ever worked in the library up until the time Mr. Brown was appointed. Mr. Brown left rather shortly thereafter to become Librarian of the Reading Public Library, and Dr. Tyson looked for someone else. The staff since I have been here has--I don&#039 ; t know, in thirty-three years there have been certainly-- I haven&#039 ; t an exact count-- as many as sixty-five different full-time staff members who have worked here. Some have stayed a long time, some have stayed very, very briefly. Some have been excellent, some have been fair, and some have been terrible. I should say that it has only been necessary though in my years here to ask for the dismissal of two. One, a clerk who spent her days with her head down on your desk, sleeping [background laughter.] And a second, who had to leave for health reasons. JSD: It would be entirely inappropriate, no, not to spend a little time speaking of Miss Mary Funk. She was here when I came. She is the one who led me into the present lounge room for my conference. She had been a librarian at Kutztown State Teachers College, as it was then. And had been brought here in the summer of 1939 by Mr. Brown, my predecessor. He having resigned, she was the only person here when I arrived that summer. Miss Funk&#039 ; s career then extends almost simultaneously with mine. She was retired-- in-- at the end of the summer of 1969, having served for thirty years as Assistant Librarian. I sometimes wonder if the library would have survived all of its vicissitudes from time to time, had it not been for Miss Funk. A person who was dedicated to her work, she actually, it seems to me, had this deep in her heart and perhaps not very much else in her life. She was hard-working. She was competent in those areas in which she wanted to work. She did limit herself, certain self limitations she put upon her areas of work. There was a little bit of martyrdom in much of it, too. She was always dependable, working excessively long hours, without taking any vacation to speak of year after year. I think that her direct approach to students and other outsiders was very forceful and very good. She was able to-- as a matter of fact today, people remember her far more than they remember me. Because she was the kind of person whose personality, and whose attention to them, and whose ability to work with them, made her outstanding. KVE: I know that all of us who dealt with Miss Funk remember her with gratitude and with great happiness about her concern for our problems. As we move into the world of increasing cooperation within the Lehigh Valley, it&#039 ; s appropriate to ask about your longstanding associations, and in some cases friendships, with the other valley librarians, and what that&#039 ; s led to. Not just in terms of personal contact but of changes for the library. JSD: Well here again if I may, I will go back to the very beginning. I came-- I was here three or four months and no librarian in the area--and I knew none at all before I came--made any gesture in my direction. So one afternoon, I said to Miss Funk, &quot ; I&#039 ; m just going to take off this afternoon, and I&#039 ; m going to introduce myself.&quot ; So, I started out at the Allentown Public Library. I&#039 ; m sorry to say I can&#039 ; t remember the name of the lady librarian at that time, but she had quite a reputation for reading a book a day. I think they were chiefly novels. She received me cordially. I moved from there to Lehigh University library, where I met a Mr. Leach, who was rather unwell, and aging at that time. I&#039 ; m sorry to say that I have no particular impression of him, although the story went around about him repeatedly. That come spring, every spring, he spent almost all day with his head turned to the window, watching the progress of nesting robins [background laughter]. From there I drove to Lafayette and introduced myself to Mr. Theodore Norton. A very fine man I think, mild, idealistic. Who unfortunately let his idealism run away with him, to the point that he became much involved in the Rosenberg case and was dropped by Lafayette. KVE: Ah. Was this all the same afternoon? JSD: Yes, yes. It had been a long afternoon as I remember. KVE: It must have been. JSD: Afternoons used to be longer. KVE: It&#039 ; s true. JSD: For some reason or other I went from there to the Easton Public Library. Which had a very good reputation at that time, and I met a young man there whom I felt quite some kinship with and we became good friends. And I talked over library matters with him for a few years, rather than with any of the others whom I had met. Today my relationship with the academic libraries, at least of the Lehigh Valley, is entirely different. We are organized as you know as part of the L.V.A.I.C. [Lehigh Valley Association of Independent Colleges], and we have meetings about six times a year. We communicate with each other on the phone, weekly at least, most of us, and we feel that we are working together and knowing each other and liking each other all for the good of the libraries of the Valley. KVE: There&#039 ; s a double-barreled kind of question that I&#039 ; d like to put to you, and a big one. Now, what are your proudest, most pride-filled, accomplishments? And what, on the other hand, do you think you&#039 ; re not going to see finished in your time as librarian? JSD: Well I think that there are two accomplishments, if I may be so bold as to say so, that are worthy of mentioning. One is the development of a book collection. I&#039 ; ve already said something about the size of the collection when I came, and the quality of the collection. And I&#039 ; ve always in my teaching experience and since, had a keen interest in the need for good books to meet the needs of an institution like Muhlenberg. So I think the development of the collection, to a collection of approximately 150,000 books now--which are good but not excellent, not outstanding, but good--is an accomplishment. KVE: It is indeed. JSD: The second thing that I would mention was the inauguration of an interlibrary loan system among the six Valley colleges--private colleges. This I worked hard on for a good many years with the other librarians before they showed any interest whatsoever. But finally it came about through a dinner that I asked them to here at the College. And it eventuated of course, into the present system of free lending and borrowing accomplished by teletype machines and by a station wagon on these daily rounds. JSD: The one thing that I feel most keenly about having left undone was the matter of a new library building. It would have been a pleasure to have helped to design one which would have eliminated many of the faults of the present one. But that building is not within the foreseeable future going to eventuate. I&#039 ; ve actually done about all that I could in my paltry power over the last twelve or thirteen years to make it clear that a building was an absolute essential. Let us hope that it does become a reality before too long for my successor. KVE: You know I share your regret in not seeing a new building, at least in the planning stage. But I would like also to comment upon the unification of resources that you have stimulated and actually brought about in the Valley. Not only for faculty members who are working away on projects, but for many students in advanced courses. The interlibrary services of the Lehigh Valley Consortium are one of the most meaningful parts of academic experience here. KVE: Thank you very much John, for giving us a resume of the last thirty-three years at Muhlenberg seen through the eyes of the librarian. The interviews in the John S. Davidson Oral History Collection were collected under the auspices of the History Department of Muhlenberg College with the purpose of preserving them for the College's archives. Copyright for these interviews is held by Muhlenberg College. video Muhlenberg College makes these interviews freely available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License. 0

Muhlenberg College

Muhlenberg College Library

Levering Tyson

Mary Funk

Haas Library

Librarian