Friday, March 7, 2008
When Carrie Morehouse Watson began her work at the university library, it consisted of a collection of 2,000 pieces of mostly irrelevant reference material contained in a single room. By the time she retired 34 years later, the library held 140,000 volumes, 1,185 periodicals, and 121 newspapers. In 1924, as a gesture of respect for her dedication, the new library building was named for her.
How did this single woman accomplish so much?
Watson was born in New York in 1858, and soon afterward her family moved to Kansas Territory. She enrolled at the University of Kansas in 1870 as a preparatory student. In 1877 she graduated with an AB degree, but turned up in Chancellor James Marvin’s office “complaining about having nothing to do,” according to an interview with the Lawrence Journal-World in 1938. She told the Kansas City Star in 1931 that at that point, she “suddenly wanted to be back in the university” and to be “in some way a part of it.” She was hired as a part-time secretary to the chancellor and assistant librarian in 1878.
Although she was only considered the “assistant” librarian, Watson essentially ran the library herself. When the librarian, mathematics professor Ephraim Miller, resigned from the post in 1887, Carrie Watson took over his position and began her 34-year career as University librarian.
Watson reputedly fit the image of a stern, spinster librarian, who with a flash of her eye quelled any misbehavior. However, she was also a kind, helpful woman who never harbored any resentment towards students, even those she scolded.
One such student, William Allen White, championed the naming of Watson Library in 1924 along with Jonathan M. Davis, then governor of Kansas. Although Chancellor Ernest H. Lindley objected to naming the building after Watson, the State Board of Administration approved the name.
Chancellor Lindley’s objections may have come mainly from Watson’s infamous management of the library. According to “Madam Librarian,” an article by John H. McCool, the faculty was “up in arms” over her incompetence, and Chancellor Francis H. Snow was called upon to rectify the situation.
A permanent Library Committee was established in 1901—Watson was purposefully excluded. Chancellor Frank Strong took over from Snow in 1901 but was unable to hire a new librarian. Campus opinion again called for Watson’s replacement in 1915, but as before, Watson retained her position.
Without being fired, Carrie Watson calmly retired in 1921. McCool’s article calls her tenacious and formidable while showing a deep commitment to the University. She found it hard to relinquish her work at the library after her retirement, but she did not wish to be seen as “meddlesome.”
Twenty-nine years after Watson’s death, the University honored her memory by declaring March 29, 1972, to be Carrie Watson Day. Guest speakers and the public were welcomed to her library to commemorate the day and to remember how influential Watson had been at the University. Today, Watson Library continues to honor the memory of Carrie Watson.
— Edited by Jared Duncan
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