William Howard Brett, librarian of the Cleveland Public Library, September 1, 1884-August 24, 1918

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THE OPEN SHELF

MEMORIAL NUMBER

WILLIAM HOWARD BRETT

Librarian of the Cleveland Public Library
September 1, 1884— August 24, 1918

LIBHAEY SCHOOL

VALE

ON Founder's Day, June 11, Mr. Brett spoke to
the class of 1918 of the Western Reserve
Library School, as a body, for the last time. He
closed his inspiring address on Library War Service
by quoting the last words of Sir Richard Grenville,
the gallant admiral of Queen Elizabeth. This fare-
well of the dying sea-fighter, which Mr. Brett in-
tended as an invocation to the spirit of service, might
well be his own high-hearted valedictory:

"Here die I, Richard Grenville, with a joyful and
quiet mind, for that I have ended my life as a true
soldier ought to do, that hath fought for his country,
queen, religion and honor. Whereby my soul most
joyfully departeth out of this body and shall always
leave behind it an everlasting fame of a valiant and
true soldier that hath done his duty as he was bound
to do."

IIBRARY SCHOOL LIBMUX

THE OPEN SHELF (,J^

Numbers 9-10 September-October, 1918 ^j^

WILLIAM HOWARD BRETT, 1846-1918

With characteristic modesty, Mr. Brett rarely talked about himself and
his early life, so that it has required the testimony of his only surviving sis-
ter^ of Mr. Allen Brett, his oldest son, and of W. C. Cochran of Cincinnati, a
companion of his boyhood in Warren, Ohio, to fill in the bare outlines of
facts which he furnished to "Who's Who."

For the many who are prompted by affection to try to recreate a back-
ground for the Mr. Brett they knew, a longer biographical article to be pub-
lished in the November Library Journal will show the boy and young man in
the environment which yielded to his energy and genius the materials for his
growth; it will suffice here to supply the facts and dates which will furnish
a key to the contents of this memorial edition.

William H. Brett was born in Braceville, Ohio, in 1846, during a period
when his parents, Morgan Lewis and Jane Brokaw Brett, were members of
the Trumbull Phalanx, a community organized after the Fourierist plan.
The Phalanx dissolved in 1848, but before this the young couple had seceded
from its fold and had removed to Warren, Ohio, which was to be their home
for twenty-six years.

That the young William Brett was always bookish, is shown on the tes-
timony of his sister, who says he learned to read, no one knows how, and
from the same source we hear of a "back way" short cut which he early wore
to a friendly book shop around the corner. As contributor to the family
finances at fourteen, his first position was with this book firm of W. N.
Porter and Sons and, both before the Civil War and thereafter in the inter-
vals of other work and of getting an education, he found in Mr. Porter's
shop congenial employment and the free book discussion in which he always
delighted.

As his companion in high school, Mr. Cochran was impressed by his
mental capacity. "He learned easily and his memory was most tenacious.
He never seemed to hesitate for an answer and so far as I could judge was
quite as well informed as his teachers."

In 1860 the Warren High School had acquired a well-selected little li-
brary, by a state appropriation, and in 1861 "Will" Brett, then only fourteen
and the youngest boy in high school, was appointed librarian. There were
no such things as catalogs, shelf-lists and charging systems in those days,
and "young Brett had no use for sitch devices. He carried in his head the
name and place of every book on the shelves" and was equally familiar with
their contents.

Even in his youth Mr. Brett was not a mere bookman ; he was a creature
of energy and action. Mr. Cochran records that he seldom took his books
home for study, and was first in all games. Moreover, he left school before
he was sixteen, to go to work. "He simply couldn't sit still in school when
there was so much going on outside."

He was saving money for a professional education, however, and as a
first step, enrolled in the Medical School of the University of Michigan, in
the fall of 1868. Once there, he changed his plans and took the Freshman
year of the regular arts course instead. Presumably at a later date, although
1874-75, the year given in "Who's Who," is not correct, he took an additional
academic year at Western Reserve, then located at Hudson. In 1894, Hiram
College honored itself and him by conferring upon him the Master's degree.

M605322

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One of his intimates in the library profession writes that never until
this past summer had Mr. Brett told him of his experiences in the Civil War.
Listening to his reminiscences of fighting in '65, it was hard to realize that
he was old enough to have fought even in the closing year of that struggle.

As a lad under draft age, he tried again and again to enlist and, finally
conceiving the idea of getting into the service as a musician, he learned to
play the fife and snare drum and was accepted in the winter of 1864-5 as a
drummer, with the "hundred days men." Characteristically, he managed to
get into the actual fighting at once, and is listed in the official records as a
private in the 196th Ohio Volunteer Infantry.

For the decade following 1874, he was a familiar figure in the large
Cleveland book shop of Cobb and Andrews. The rare quality of his services
soon become known to an ever widening circle of the book-lovers of Cleve-
land, and in 1884, when the Public Library Board was looking for some one
to inject life into the veins of a moribund library, the proper person was not
far to seek. From 1884, Mr. Brett's personal history is identified with that
of the Public Library to which he gave an unstinted measure of his time and
energies.

Mr. Brett was married in 1879 to Miss Alice L. Allen of Cleveland. His
wife, five children, four sons and a daughter, and six grand-children survive
him.

It may have been the desire for high adventure which sent the young
William Brett into the Civil War as a lad, but from the opening of the pres-
ent war the flame of pure patriotism burned high and clear. Three of his
four fine sons are in the service, and with equal devotion their father spent
nearly the whole of his time during the last six months of his life in organ-
izing the work of supplying books to camp libraries, and the service for dis-
patching books overseas to cheer the leisure of our fighting men.

Mr. Brett's death occurred late in the afternoon of Saturday, August
24th. As Dr. Thwing notes in his appreciation, "The time at the day's end
and the week's close was significant of the constancy with which he worked
at his job early and late, week in and week out, year by. year."

On the following Tuesday his body lay in state in Trinity Cathedral for
several hours before the public services in the early afternoon. Seldom has
the passing of one of Cleveland's public men been marked by such a gathering;
the great Cathedral was filled to the very doors, not with a curious throng,
but with a company of friends, each of whom had been bound to the man and
librarian by ties of affection, of shared labor, or of generous and vital service.
As the casket, draped with the American flag, was borne down the aisle, the
thought was in everyone's mind that a soldier had received his honorable
discharge. And surely he was a soldier — a happy warrior, going out of life
quickly in the performance of duty rather than the laborer who goes wearily
to rest when the night closes in.

On the following Wednesday, September 4th, a Staff Memorial Meeting
was held at Woodland Branch, attended by practically the entire personnel
of the Library. There staff resolutions were read and Mr. Allen Brett spoke
simply and intimately of some aspects of his father's life and character which
might bring into closer focus the memory picture of him cherished by his
co-workers. His reminiscences were supplemented by the far-reaching recol-
lections of John G. White, President of the Library Board in Mr. Brett's first
year as librarian, and again President from 1913 to date, and those of A. A.
Stearns, Vice-President of the present Board. The service, coming as it did
while the feeling of personal loss was still at its keenest, was the most fitting
and comforting commemoration possible.

An evening session of the Ohio Library Association, held at Columbus
early in October, was dedicated to memorializing Mr. Brett. Mr. W. C.

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Cochran of Cincinnati, a boyhood companion, spoke of Mr. Brett, the friend ;
Adam Strohm, chief of the Detroit Public Library, talked of his record as a
librarian; an appreciation by Dr. Charles F. Thwing, entitled, "Mr. Brett,
the Man," was read by Miss Alice S. Tyler, Director of the Western Reserve
Library School ; Miss Electra Doren, Librarian of Dayton, Ohio, dealt with
Mr. Brett's work as founder of the Ohio Library Association, while Dr.
William Warner Bishop, President of the American Library Association,
read an appreciation from Dr. Herbert Putnam, Librarian of Congress and
Director of the Library War Service of the American Library Association,
and from his own professional knowledge as Librarian of the University of
Michigan, evaluated Mr. Brett's contribution to the science of librarianship,
notably his development of the open shelf and branch library ideas, his
pioneer application of the departmental plan to main library organization and
the early use of the linotype slug as a tool for the cumulative indexing of
periodicals. In addition, John Henry Newman, State Librarian of Ohio,
offered a set of resolutions voicing his own appreciation and that of the State
Board of Library Commissioners, and Washington T. Porter, President of
the Board of Trustees of the Cincinnati Public Library, spoke informally of
his experiences with Mr. Brett at Columbus during the years when both
were serving as members of the State Association Committee on Library
Legislation. It is anticipated that some part of the proceedings of this meet-
ing will be published in one of the library periodicals and it may be noted
also that the November Library Journal will be largely given up to apprecia-
tions, portraits and biography of the man, who, at the time of his death, had
been called the dean of the library profession. ,

LANDMARKS, 1884-1918

The annual reports for the thirty-four years of Mr. Brett's administration
make interesting reading for the person who knows the scope of the present
work of the Library. Not only do they record the various specific events
which are the outstanding landmarks in its growth and the extension of its
functions, but they show in black and white the persistence and patience with
which the librarian tried every avenue of approach to the goal of his ideals
and the wisdom which was content to rest half-way when that goal was
at the moment unattainable. They also show, occasionally, how certain of
Mr. Brett's ideas were not struck full-armed from his brain, but grew by a
natural evolution from the fertile germ of his first conception.

.^Dictionary Catalog.

One of Mr. Brett's first active measures was to have compiled and printed
a dictionary catalog of the English books in the Circulating Department of
the Library. This was finished in 1889 and revealed the resources of an
already considerable collection to an eager public, up to this time more or
IjBSs in ignorance of what the library had to offer.

The Open Shelf Plan

The report of the President of the Library Board for 1890 records, "with
increased space, we have, after careful consideration, arranged the library
upon an alcove system, placing all books of a specified class in an alcove
under the care of a competent assistant," and giving the public free access to
the shelves.

This open shelf plan was one of Mr. Brett's particular contributions to
the advancement of librarianship as an art. In 1890 when the Cleveland
Public Library decided upon the open shelf plan, it was one of the first, if
not the first large public library in the country and, therefore, in the world,
to give free access to its shelves. The plan had been much discussed by

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American libraries and for the most part voted impracticable, but the reports
for the two years following its adoption, 1891 and 1892, noted an increase
of nearly fifty percent in circulation, a loss of books smaller than in any
previous years and a saving of at least $1,500 per year in the cost of admin-
istration of the Circulating Department. Free access is now a matter of
course in nearly every public library in the country.

Development of the Main Library.

The alcove arrangement, tested and proved successful in his first decade
as an administrator, was apparently the germ of Mr. Brett's later concept
of a departmental Main Library on a large scale. We find him thereafter
asking more and more specifically that funds be provided through endowment
or otherwise, for building up the various subject collections into departmental
libraries which should provide a means to a higher education for those unable
to obtain it in other ways, and which should also supplement the work of tech-
nical school and university. His vision of a dignified and architecturally
beautiful central building sufficiently spacious to contain these special collec-
tions and departmental libraries and allow for their growth, and to serve as
a centre of its technical and administrative work, defined itself ever more
clearly. The following dates show the various stages through which this
ideal progressed toward fulfillment:

By a law of April 22, 1896, public library bonds for $250,000 were author-
ized and, by a provision of the same law, a Board of Sinking Fund Commis-
sioners was appointed to care for the funds thus provided. These bonds were
sold in 1898 for $295,250, and deposited as a building fund.

In 1900 the headquarters building, in which the Library had been the
guest for twenty years of the Board of Education, was sold, and notice to
vacate in April 1901 was served. In compliance with the request of the
Chamber of Commerce, the Library Board agreed to put off erecting a per-
manent central library structure until the group plan for the public buildings
of the city should be perfected and put into effect. As some relief from
crowded conditions must be afforded, however, a lot was secured at the
corner of Wood and Rockwell, now East Third, on April 1st, 1900, and a
Temporary Main Library building erected and opened for public use in
October, 1901.

The reports between 1901 and 1912 show increasingly crowded conditions
in the Temporary Main Library and an overflow into neighboring buildings
at an annual rental of $2,880. The big event in 1912 was the successful elec-
tion campaign giving the Library Board the right to issue bonds for two
million dollars for a new Main Library building.

Pending the erection of this building, the Main Library and the admin-
istrative and technical departments of the system were transferred in August,
1913, to the fifth and sixth floors of the Kinney and Levan building, 1375
Euclid Avenue. The chief change which marked this transfer was the re-
organization of the Main Library into departments or divisions, each with
its own catalog and doing its own reference work under an expert divisional
head; this innovation in public library administration being the logical out-
growth of the arrangement of the circulating collection in subject alcoves,
which was one of Mr. Brett's first administrative moves. He repeated in 1914
his plea for a book endowment fund to maintain and increase the Main
Library collections.

In a contest in which eight architectural firms competed, a jury of libra-
rians and architects and the Library Board, each body acting independently,
agreed on the plans of Walker and Weeks of Cleveland as the most suit-
able for library purposes, and the commission of architects of the new Central
Building was awarded to this firm in November, 1915.

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In compliance with the agreement with the Chamber of Commerce that
the Central Library should form a part of the group plan, the space formerly-
occupied by the old City Hall and the first Temporary Main Library was
secured, the further stipulation, that the building should be on a line with the
Federal Building and follow the same architectural style, having been also
taken into account in the plans.

As the price of labor and material rose with the progress of the war, it
became increasingly evident that the appropriation was inadequate for a
building executed in accordance with the accepted plans, so that all action
was suspended, until the termination of the war, or until prices should be
restored to their former levels.

^ Extension of the Library System.

The Librarian's report for 1891 includes this paragraph : "Another great
need is the establishment of branch libraries or delivery stations, or of both.
The city is so widely extended that a large part of it is out of reach of the
Library and can only be reached by branches." Again in one of his latest
reports to his Board (1914), when the system had been extended to reach a
large part of the people of Cleveland, Mr. Brett deplores the uneven distribu-
tion of library facilities and enumerates several remote but important dis-
tricts, notably in the south-east and south-west portions of the city, which
are without libraries.

"The branch library is of great importance to the child," he continues.
"It is possible for older people to go farther for books, but, unless the library
is within walking distance of their houses, as the school is, most children can-
not use it. Probably a mile is the maximum walking distance for a child,
and unfortunately there are still several populous neighborhoods which are
much more than a mile from a library."

The rapid development from a single library to a large system may be
shown by comparing the following statistics. From 1884 to 1889, all the
public library work of the city was done at the Main Library, with a collec-
tion of something over 50,000 volumes. At the beginning of 1892 it had
less than 70,000 volumes and its work was still confined to the Main Library
with the exception of some small collections lent to individual teachers.

In 1890 the first station was opened in a manufacturing plant and in
1892 the first branch opened on the West Side. At the close of 1902, a decade
later, there were 185,000 volumes in the system, which then consisted of a
Main Library, four branches, five sub-branches and twenty-one stations. At
this stage, the Library did not own any of its branch buildings nor, outside
of the Main Library, any property but its books, furniture and fixtures.

In 1901 a Committee on Library Extension had been added to the Board,
an addition to the organization amply justified by the work created by the
first Carnegie gift for seven branch libraries, oflfered and accepted with the
condition that the city should provide the sites and expend $25,000 annually
for their support.

Woodland, the first Carnegie Branch, was opened in 1904. At the be-
ginning of 1918, thirteen of the branches were housed in buildings provided
either by the original Carnegie fund of $123,000 or by the supplementary
gift in 1914 of $110,000; also three more smaller buildings were in some in-
termediate stage between the acceptance of the plans and the formal open-
ing, and one building had been given by Mr. Rockefeller.

Thus, at the beginning of the last year of Mr. Brett's administration,
the Library was conducting its work through 728 distributing agencies be-
sides the Main Library and circulating nearly three and a half million books.
Some comparative figures prepared bv the President of the Board in 1915
show that, with only 543,000 books, Cleveland stood third among the great

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libraries of the country, in the number circulated, and first in circulation per
capita.

Work with Children

Mr. Brett has been spoken of as "the greatest children's librarian," and
as has been shown, the needs of children and young people both in and out of
school were always in his mind in building new branches and in expanding the
work of the library to cooperate with the socializing and educational agencies
of the city.

In reporting the first year of his work (1884-1885) he urges the imme-
diate consideration of every means for making the library useful to the young
people of the city, and in 1886 his especial plea is for a reading room and
library for young people, a need which he persistently presents until 1898,
when the first separate accommodation for children was arranged by enclos-
ing a part of the Main Library Circulating Department and providing a
separate entrance.

From then on, the development of work with children was rapid. In
1901 a separate Children's Department was opened in the basement of the
Temporary Main Library and the report for that year states that a large part
of the work at the branches is with children and younger readers. Nineteen
hundred and three is a year to be marked with a white stone : The story hour
and the home library club for providing books in neighborhoods remote from
any Library, were successfully tried out and a Supervisor of Children's Work
was appointed ; in 1908 Perkins Branch was opened as the first so-called
children's library.

The building of Carnegie branches, each with a beautiful and well
equipped children's room, marked another epoch in the work. The neces-
sity of providing a supply of assistants with special training for work with
children became increasingly apparent. To meet this demand, the Cleveland
Training Class for Work with Children was established in 1909. In this class
about twelve young women were given eight months' training each year in
the theory and practice of children's work. No tuition was charged, as the
main purpose of the class was to furnish children's workers for the Cleveland
staflP.

Work with Schools.

The work with school children and their teachers was a natural out-
growth of the general work for children. Its first phase, in the '80s and early
'90s, w^as the supplying of class room libraries to individual teachers.

In 1890 and 1891 more than 3,000 volumes were placed in sixty-one gram-
mar and parochial schools and the report of the President of the Board in
1891 notes that, "the work with schools is only limited by the lack of suffi-
cient books in the library to supply the demand. If it were possible to place
books in all of the schools it might become a very important adjunct to the
educational work of the city."

The report of the Librarian for the same year points out that these class
room libraries are often the only source of book supply for whole neighbor-
hoods and asks that deposit stations be established in these schools to serve
as branch libraries for the families of the children represented in the schools
as well as for the children themselves and their teachers. During 1899 and
1900 twelve of these permanent deposits were placed in as many schools, in
charge of library assistants. In 1906 the work with grade schools had grown
so as to necessitate the appointment of a Supervisor of School Work.

The first high school library was established in Central High School
in 1896 and at the beginning of 1918 there were branches in the eight regular
high schools of the city, the library supplying expert service and many cir-

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culating books, the high school furnishing the library room and most of the
reference books. Beginning with 1908, a course of instruction in the use of
the Library and of reference books was given to the freshmen class and in
most of the libraries the course was extended over the following years and
made an accredited part of the school curriculum.

One of Mr. Brett's cherished ideals was to put relations with the public
schools on a firmer basis through efficient aid to teachers. To that end
courses of instruction in children's literature and in the use of the library
have been given in recent years at both the regular and summer sessions
of the Normal School, numerous lists of books and readings to supplement
the school courses have been prepared, teachers have had enlarged book
drawing privileges and special reference work has been done at the Main
Library and all branches.

The Parents' and Teachers' Room at the Main Library has been an
interesting development of the effort to foster the study of the best children's
books on the part of those who deal with children, and to offer suggestions
for the guidance of children's reading.

Library Training.

In at least three of his reports Mr. Brett refers to an unusually high
average of liberal education and technical training as making for the efficiency
of his staff. In his opinion, "while a large measure of efficiency can un-
doubtedly be secured by experience in libraries of high grade, this cannot be
done so rapidly, completely and thoroughly as in a library school which aims
to give a general knowledge of the whole field with accurate instruction in
methods of library work accompanied by practice. Those using the Library
have a right to expect prompt and efficient service. Such service can be
given only by those with adequate training."

To the end of providing a measure of technical training for his own
staff, Mr. Brett arranged with the University of Chicago for a week's course
of extension lectures on library topics in December, 1896, and supplemented
this instruction by organizing two successive sessions of a Library Summer
School in 1898 and 1900.

Mr. Brett had been working during this period for a regular Library
School. This, in his plan, was to be established in conjunction with the
University, the bibliographical and book instruction to be given in part by the
University professors and the technical instruction by members of the Library
staff, while the Public Library would furnish opportunity for practice work.
When such a school was established at Western Reserve in 1903 under a
$100,000 Carnegie endowment, Mr. Brett was appropriately made its active
Dean. An arrangement was made with the school whereby members of the
staff might have their tuition advanced by the Library. The Library now
conducts an Apprentice Training Class during several months of each year,
the technical and book instruction being given by members of the staff ;
formerly much of this was also given at the Library School.

Other important events in the history of Mr. Brett's administration were
the organization of the Cleveland Public Library work for the blind in 1903,
and the presentation to the library in 1899 of a collection of Arabic folk-lore,
the property of Hon. John G. White, President of the Library Board. This
collection, now known as the John G. White Collection of Orientalia and
Folk-lore, numbers over thirty thousand volumes, represents over one hun-
dred and forty languages and is known to scholars all over the country. Only
in 1917 was it put in such order as to make its contents readily available for
use and it was one of Mr. Brett's dreams that in the new Central Library
it should be completely catalogued and worthily housed.

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RESOLUTIONS AND MEMORIALS

RESOLUTIONS OF THE CLEVELAND PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD

In the passing of William Howard Brett, the City of Cleveland has been
deprived of an honored citizen who has rendered it invaluable service as
librarian of its Public Library during a continuous period of thirty-four
years. During this period he built up and wisely administered one of the
great library systems of the country, preeminent for the spirit of its service,
and thus added to the City's renown. The City itself is today greater and
fairer, many of its citizens happier, broader-minded, more intelligent and
more useful, because he lived.

His great work was the humanizing and socializing of the Public
Library. His vision saw it as every man's library, every woman's library,
even every little child's library, holding, in its rich stores of printed wealth,
the wisdom of the world with its special messages for each ; his was the task,
so far as he could, to open its treasures to them, one and all. This he accom-
plished through the patient, often prosaic, but always practical application
of his own best theories and those of his fellows in his profession, until the
library has permeated the City with a quiet influence for the enlargement of
life. He was a great educational leader in his clear, broad conception of
the library as an institution which informally supplements and continues
through life the educational work begun by the public schools.

He considered the cause to which he had given himself, worthy of his
utmost efforts, and his dedication to it was complete. His energy and per-
sistence were of a quality seldom seen ; a hard worker, giving long days and
most of his evenings to his labors, rarely taking a holiday, he yet brought
to his daily tasks a zest and an enthusiasm which were a constant inspiration
to those with whom he came in contact ; he was modest, unassuming, sunny-
tempered, straightforward and ingenuous as an unspoiled child, yet wise with
the wisdom of great men, tender in his sympathies and instantaneous in his
response to any human need, genuine and generous, self-forgetting, undaunt-
edl)'- optimistic, courageous and tenacious for the right as he saw it, just but
lenient in his judgments and believing in the best in men, constructive in his
thinking and planning.

His gentle manners, his kindliness, his helpfulness and his spirit of
youthful enthusiasm, were most winning, and the friends who mourn him
are legion.

The record of his accomplished work must be found in the history of
the Cleveland Public Library system with its many outstanding progressive
features ; in the Western Reserve University Library School, of which he
was one of the founders and its active dean, and whose alumni throughout
the country have loved him as their professional head and wise adviser ; in
the Ohio Library Association, which owes its inception and much of its
development to him, its first president ; in the American Library Association,
which he had served as one of its oldest and best beloved members, as one
of its most honored presidents, and one of its most wise and helpful counsel-
lors; in many other gratuitous services for the advancement of libraries and
the welfare of librarians ; in the unwritten and untold influence of such a
character as his upon thousands of lives with which he came in contact ; and
finally in the unstinted giving of his utmost efforts in professional and per-
sonal service to his country in this great war for humanity.

His great unfinished tasks are a sacred heritage. The tasks which he
saw set in clear lines of duty before him were: the planning and completion

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of the new Main Library building, with the many original ideas which he
had contributed to it; the development of the branch system until every
section of the City should be provided with adequate library equipment and
service; the provision, by endowment or otherwise, of sufficient book funds
for the building up of the various library collections ; and the provision for
adequate compensation for the splendid staff of helpers which he gathered
about him, bound together by devotion to him and to his ideals. These for
Cleveland, and the rounding out of the work which had grown to such mag-
nitude under his guidance.

He worked definitely and zealously to extend the library service to the
County, and for legislation to insure library progress for the State. Last of
all, since America entered the war, came another great task, new in the his-
tory of the world, the furnishing of books by the millions for purposes of
war, and the definite contribution of various library activities toward winning
the war.

It is fitting that these great undertakings be here recorded, with the
resolve that they shall be carried to completion as one of the tributes to the
memory of a great and greatly beloved librarian.

In the death of Mr. Brett, the members of the Board, both personally
and officially, have sustained an irretrievable loss.

Be it resolved, That this minute be spread on the records of the Board
and that copies, in proper form, be sent to the family of Mr. Brett, as an
expression of the great sympathy which this Board feels for those whose loss
is greatest of all ; and that copies be sent to the Mayor and the City Council
of Cleveland, to the Board of Education, to Western Reserve University, to
the American Library Association and to the Ohio Library Association.

RESOLUTIONS OF THE STAFF OF THE CLEVELAND PUBLIC

LIBRARY

We, the staff of the Cleveland Public Library, in a special memorial
service assembled, testify to the irreparable loss we sustain in the death of
our beloved leader, William Howard Brett.

To think of him, is to think of joyous service directed by a generous,
loving nature and a richly-stored and experiencing mind. Believing that one
of the chief sources for the enrichment of life lay in the precious records of
human experience, as set forth in books, he designed that the whole people
of this great city, irrespective of age, class or creed, might each be able to
draw from those records just that which would meet his highest need. With
such love for humanity he labored with unfailing joy and optimism for the
fulfillment of his vision. With such a vision, he never ceased to be creative.
Entirely without personal ambition, he found his true reward, the well-nigh
complete attainment of his clear-purposed goal. The future alone can reveal
his full accomplishment; how wisely he waited at times to execute; how far
he looked into the coming years.

To the members of his staff he was more than a friend. He rejoiced with
us in personal good fortune, he sustained and helped us in adversity. With
supreme tact and gentleness he guided us in our work. Always the master
of the situation, he commanded only after untiring efforts to convince by
reason and counsel. He inspired by sharing with us his most far-reaching
plans, and by placing unbounded faith and trust in us. He was ever ap-
proacihable, ever ready to give a generous hearing and to advise. He helped
us to discover ourselves.

10 OPENSHELF

To his family we wish to send the message that we sorrow with them,
and that we feel a deep sense of gratitude to them for having recognized in
all the many years of his public service how fully he belonged to his great
work, and for having given him so freely to it. To have done this was to
have increased his gifts to the people of Cleveland and to his beloved pro-
fession.

The precious heritage that he has left to us, the memory of his work and
of the gallant spirit with which it was carried on, can be no more fittingly
commemorated than by our resolving as a staff, to give to our work and to
pass on to our future associates something of that spirit, and to continue to
the people of Cleveland that joyous service which Mr. Brett so freely ren-
dered.

Be it resolved. That a copy of this minute be submitted to the family
of Mr. Brett as an expression of our deep and affectionate sympathy ;

That a copy be sent to the members of the staff of the Newport News
Dispatch Office, who were so closely associated with his last great task;

And that a copy be offered to the Board of Trustees of the Cleveland
Public Library, with the request that it be accepted and recorded in the
minutes of the Board.

MEMORIAL OF THE WESTERN RESERVE LIBRARY SCHOOL

The Faculty of the Library School of Western Reserve University,
which has been guided since the organization of the School, by the far-seeing
counsel of William H. Brett as Dean, records with profound sorrow the
loss sustained in his death by the School and by each member of the Faculty.

Mr. Brett's belief that trained service in library work must raise the
standards in libraries and increase their efficiency and value led him to plan
for a Library School in Cleveland and to welcome the cooperation of Western
Reserve University in its development. He gave unsparingly of thought,
time and effort, inspiring the faculty and students with his own high ideals
and sincerity of purpose.

The Library School is a factor in the realization of Mr. Brett's ideal
of self-education through books; the alert, sympathetic, personal service of
skilled librarians and library assistants opening up the riches of the printed
page. This service was one of the fundamentals of his library creed, and the
Faculty desires to maintain his ideals in the School, as its most sincere testi-
monial to his leadership.

MEMORIAL MINUTE ADOPTED BY THE A. L. A. EXECUTIVE

BOARD

The Executive Board of the American Library Association record their
sense of irreparable loss in the death of William Howard Brett which will
be felt throughout the library profession in every feature of its service at
home and abroad. He was always a pioneer in any fresh advance which
would give to the library service wider scope and closer response to public
needs. In making the Cleveland Public Library the first great library to
grant the public access to open shelves, in promoting library work for and
with children in separate housing, in developing the departmental system
which will be the most notable feature of the great Public Library building
which Cleveland will owe to him, and finally in giving himself heart and soul
to the patriotic work at Newport News where he was the animating center

OPEN SHELF 11

of war work more comprehensive and far reaching than at any other post,
he showed himself a leader who knew full well that leadership in a demo-
cratic community meant service to all. As an unflinching patriot he gave
both himself and his sons willingly to his country's service and no duty ever
called to him without immediate response. To the leaders of the profession
he was always a support and inspiration, to all he was a cheering standard
bearer and to those who knew him best he was one of the most beloved of
men.

RESOLUTIONS OF THE EAST CLEVELAND LIBRARY BOARD

Resolved, That the life of W. H. Brett fulfilled the democratic ideal, in
serving not his own interest or that of any class, but rather the interest of
the whole public.

The service of W. H. Brett lay, first in developing in the city of Cleve-
land a public library that in aim and achievement set an example for the
emulation of other cities. He built up that library in a physical sense, that
it might accomplish a spiritual mission. By fostering branch libraries in
every part of the city, he carried books to the people ; he threw open the
shelves to the public, and that men, women and children might be attracted
to them, employed all commendable devices. He purposed that the success
of the Cleveland Library should not lie in the number of volumes gathered,
but in the number that might come into the hands of the people.

The service of W. H. Brett lay, also, in this, that when American democ-
racy sent her sons, his own among them, to battle for the democracy of
weaker peoples, he turned his tireless energies in the direction of providing
books and magazines for the republic's soldiers. Here again he led, not as
one who would be a leader only, but as one whose dearest ambition was to
be simply a servant. Just as his development of Cleveland's Library system
set an example for those charged elsew^here with the fostering of public
libraries, so also the w^ork of the last year of his life w^as an exemplar in the
special field created by the formation of America's great army.

W. H. Brett knew whereon democracy is founded — service of the indi-
vidual to the public whole — and that knowledge was translated by him into
an actual life.

Resolved, also. That this resolution be spread on the minutes of this
Library Board, and that copies be sent to the widow and family of Mr.
Brett, and to the Public Library Board of the City of Cleveland.

RESOLUTIONS OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE TOLEDO

PUBLIC LIBRARY

Whereas : It has pleased Divine Providence to remove in the person of
William Howard Brett, a distinguished and useful citizen, and a man whose
career has proved him a notable success in his profession, it has seemed
fitting that the Board of Trustees of the Toledo Public Library should note
his passing wnth deep and genuine regret :

The Board of Trustees of the Toledo Public Library has therefore caused
to be spread upon the minutes, and to be conveyed to the local newspapers, a
resolution expressive of its sincere regret at the untimely death of the
Librarian of the Cleveland Public Library.

The Board long recognized his eflficient and useful service and feels that
the work in Cleveland and in the country at large has suffered a severe blow.

12 OPEN SHELF

RESOLUTIONS OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST LIBRARY

ASSOCIATION

At the recent meeting of the Pacific Northwest Library Association in
Seattle, the Association made the following resolution and instructed the
secretary to forward it to you :

Resolved, That this Association express the sense of loss which its
members feel in common with libraries throughout the country in the un-
timely death of Mr. W. H. Brett, Librarian of the Cleveland Public Library.
The most efficient and modest of men, a man of most beautiful spirit, his
life has been an inspiration not only to the members of his own staff, but to
many librarians throughout the land who have seen fulfilled in him their
ideal of a librarian and a gentleman.

RESOLUTIONS OF THE PAPER SALVAGE COMMITTEE

Whereas : The death of the Chairman of this Committee, its leader and
counselor, William Howard Brett, has taken from it the moving spirit of the
organization, and bereft our city of one whose loss is a public sorrow ; there-
fore, be it

Resolved, That by the passing of our associate, the committee which he
founded and fostered has suffered an irreparable loss, and we, his confreres,
are deprived of a personal association that was at all times helpful and
precious. We realize, too, that our loss is but a part of that experienced by
a great community, which learned through the many years of Librarian
Brett's public service to appreciate his tireless and self-forgetful efforts to
uplift the standard and advance the best interests of the city he loved so well.
And be it further

Resolved, That copies of these resolutions be given the near and dear
ones who survive our late associate, the wife, the four sons, and daughter,
and to the Cleveland Public Library Board.

MEMORIAL OF THE CLEVELAND CHAPTER OF THE AMERICAN
INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS

At a meeting of the Cleveland Chapter of the American Institute of
Architects, held on Thursday evening, Sept. 5th, 1918, unanimous action
was taken that an expression from the members of our profession, voicing
the sincere realization of the tremendous loss to our City, State and Nation,
through the untimely passing of our good friend, William H. Brett, together
with ati appreciation of his life, be sent to his family and the Cleveland
Public Library Board.

As a man, we all knew of his incalculable work ; as a citizen, he loved
the right and the good, doing all that was possible for the uplift of his fel-
lowmen ; as a librarian, he was recognized and valued in all places as a
leader; as an American, he proved his patriotism in the work he more re-
cently undertook, and saw its gradual fulfillment.

His love and labor for people of all classes and kinds, his devotion to
the great work in which he was engaged so vitally, produced results which
Greater Cleveland can never forget.

Interested as he was in all noble things, in all phases of the highest
walks of life and the ideal, he often indicated his keen appreciation for the
beautiful in architecture.

We wish to express in these few inadequate words our heartfelt sorrow
for the loss of this friend of the people and our deepest sympathy to his
family and associates.

OPEN SHELF 13

LIBRARY WAR SERVICE

AN APPRECIATION BY NEWTON D. BAKER,
SECRETARY OF WAR

I knew Mr. Brett intimately, and was closely associated with his work
for Cleveland and for the Public Library idea throughout the country. He
ought to be ranked as one of America's great educators as well as one of
Cleveland's most useful citizens. His death will not stop the great work
with which he was associated, either at home or abroad.

As Secretary of War, I am glad to be able to express my appreciation
of the splendid contribution which Mr. Brett made to the soldiers in France
and at home. His work is a part of theirs, and altogether it represents the
best that America has yet done for the world.

MEMORIAL MINUTE OF THE WAR SERVICE COMMITTEE OF
THE AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION

In the death of William Howard Brett, the library profession has lost a
great leader and the War Service Committee of the A. L. A., an ardent and
untiring member. He was a pioneer of the social and democratic spirit in a
new field of educational and community service — the Public Library — and
his contributions in almost every line of endeavor within this institution's
scope have been significant and epoch-making. He perfected cumulative
indexing and applied it to library service ; proved the wisdom and practica-
bility of the open shelf system ; conceived upon the broadest scope, library
and school co-operation; developed the branch library system, fostered
library instruction, built into library architecture the principle of response
to both community and administrative needs ; in library legislation he was
a recognized authority. Through the Cleveland Public Library's work,
through State and National library associations, for a generation he spread
the spirit and ideals of a new force in education and society. But to the
city whose life he has enlarged and adorned through its Public Library,
and to others of his colleagues belongs the memorializing of these manifold
and generous labors.

To the War Service Committee there remains the distinction of record-
ing the noble and self-sacrificing service which he rendered to his latest
hour in the newest and, to him, the most deeply significant development of
that profession to which he had already devoted a life-time.

From the beginning of the war, and long before our entrance into the
world conflict, he was vitally concerned as to its issues. He entertained no
hesitations and no doubts as to the course which we should pursue as a
nation. His fighting spirit as expressed in his own field, whether by good
generalship, by fine sense of relationships, or in generous rivalry of service,
was, throughout his life, always clear and definite in its objective. And
action — direct, personal and constructive action — was, saving his consider-
ate and democratic spirit, his foremost characteristic. When but a lad he
ran away from home to enlist in the Civil War. Too young to fight he
could only be a bugler, but there he was on the spot, to be and to do what-
ever he could. Later he saw actual service in the 196th Ohio Regiment.
When the time came to put libraries into winning this war he was at
hand, with all the resources of his varied and rich experience ; himself, his
library board, and his library staff attuned to the task of mobilizing the

14 OPENSHELF

service of books to the needs of civilians and soldiers for winning the war,
whether at home or abroad. From the very nrst hour that such service
was conceived, he began his work. A member of the Library War Finance
Committee upon whose success depended the whole camp library project,
he was active personally and officially in formulating plans, in shaping
policies, and in raising funds. These larger functions did not prevent his
personal attention to the immediate and definite work of initiating the
Library War Service in his own State and directing the work of collecting
funds, of supplementing the library at Camp Sherman, hastening the re-
alization of an adequate building, the first in the country to be dedicated,
and later in sustaining the stream of efficient camp library service by sup-
plying workers from his own staff. Subsequently, at the request of the
General Director, he organized and directed the work of one of the two
largest dispatch offices for forwarding books over seas, that at Newport
News, and extended its work as a book distributing station to over thirty
camps in the vicinity. A cherished dream of his, unfulfilled because of the
tragic accident of his death, was to work in France among the soldiers in
the furlough region of the American Expeditionary Forces.

His candor, his utter absence of pose, his magnanimity, his kindly,
buoyant, tempered spirit, thinking no evil, hoping all things, placed each
man at his best and acted as a solvent upon every problem and in any
crisis ; but underlying these qualities was the tenacious will, which halted
at no obstacle until the goal was compassed. A vital, constructive per-
sonality, royally democratic, has passed from among us. In the fullness of
years 5'et with vigor undiminished and vision undimmed, he went out in
the full tide of action.

Be it therefore resolved that the sense of our irreparable loss in counsel
and in action be recorded in the minutes of this Committee, and that, as a
fitting memorial of the life purposes and last work of our late colleague,
we co-operate to the fullest extent with the Library Board and Library
Staff of Cleveland in furthering in France the work which he so ardently
desired to undertake.

Be it fu.rther resolved that a copy of this memorial be sent to the mem-
bers of his family, to the Cleveland Public Library Board, to the Vice-
Librarian, Miss Eastman, and the Library Staff.

OPEN SHELF IS

APPRECIATIONS

FROM the scores of spontaneous letters written in the first stress of feel-
ing aroused by the news of Mr. Brett's death, a comparatively small
number has been selected for publication. The selection has been
guided by a desire to record every point of view — that of his friends, profes-
sional associates, students, users of the Library and fellow-citizens ; and to
represent as many as possible of Mr. Brett's distinctive qualities as a man, a
friend, a citizen and a librarian. Those unquoted are not less sincere in
their expression of appreciation and affection, nor less just in their judgment
of his accomplishment.

Naturally, most Clevelanders have spoken rather than written of Mr.
Brett and it is a matter of regret that hundreds of these verbal tributes must
go unrecorded in print, as well as those of his own staff ; such appreciations,
if included, would fill many volumes. However, the staflf is desirous of per-
petuating for their own solace and guidance their librarian's wonderful spirit
of service, and will welcome any instances of his personal helpfulness which
can be given them.

FROM MEN AND WOMEN IN THE LIBRARY PROFESSION
Edwin H. Anderson, Director, Public Library, New York City
(From a letter to Miss Eastman)

"Mr. Brett was very dear to me. He was one of the biggest, if not the
biggest man in the business ; certainly the one with the finest spirit and the
most charming personality. About two years ago he spent the night with us
at Scarsdale. The next day Mrs. Anderson recalled that he had spoken of
things that dated back further than we thought he could remember. I
looked up his age in Who's Who, and we were both astonished to find that
he was then seventy years old. He was certainly the youngest man of his
age I ever knew. Although he was seventy-two at the time of his death, I
should say he died in his prime, for I know nobody with a more flexible
mind or with a mind more open to new ideas. As you know, Mr. Brett and
I have been thrown together a good deal in the last year. One evening at
the Saratoga conference I dined with him, and after dinner he suggested
that we go up to his room for a smoke. We had a whole evening together,
with the most delightful and friendly talk. Among other things he told
me for the first time about his service in the Civil War. I had never known
before that he was a Civil War veteran. I am sure he was justly proud and
happy that he had three sons and a son-in-law in the present war, but he
never said so. As you know, he was deeply interested in his own war work,
and I am told was even anxious to go to France to supervise personally the
book service to our soldiers in the furlough zone.

"The library world has suffered, an irreparable loss ; Cleveland has lost
one of its most useful citizens : and you and I and numbers of other people
have lost our dearest friend. There is nothing I can say that will soften
the blow, but all his friends should get new inspiration from his life and
work."

Dr. Arthur E. Bostwick, Librarian, Public Library, St. Louis, Mo.

"I saw Mr. Brett so recently and it is such a little time ago that we were
together in Boston that I cannot realize that he is gone. I know of no one

16 OPEN SHELF

whose death just at this time would have been a greater loss to the library-
world. He always seemed to me to combine the wisdom and ripe judgment
of age with the buoyancy and optimism of youth. He was one of the most
companionable of men, and one of the most lovable."

Harrison W. Craver, Director, Library of the United Engineering Societies,
New York City

"Mr. Brett has been so constant an inspiration and so true a friend to me
that I can think of no professional associate whose loss could mean so much
to me. My own feeling is shared, I feel sure, by every one who knew him ;
and our love for him gives us an idea of what his loss must be to those of
you who had the honor and the privilege of assisting him in his work, and
of daily association with him. It is a big loss to Cleveland and to librarian-
ship, one that we shall feel for many years."

Walter L. Brown, Librarian, Public Library, Buffalo, N, Y.

"I knew Mr. Brett, I suppose, but slightly, yet for many years it has
been my joy from time to time to meet him. I was always sure of finding
him friendly and kind and more and more likeable. This acquaintance was
a bright thread through quite a long part of my life, which I shall greatly
miss, yet I feel that I should be very thankful for having had that delightful
association."

Charles F. D. Belden, Librarian, Public Library, Boston, Mass.

"Words cannot express the feelings of those who knew Mr. Brett and
had learned to admire his sterling qualities and had come under the influence
of his affectionate nature. Seeing a good deal of Mr. Brett in Boston and in
connection with War Library work during the past year, I became much at-
tached to him.

"It is a real satisfaction to know that there is the possibility of estab-
lishing in his memory a camp library in France. How much it would have
pleased him."

Wm. E. Foster, Librarian, Public Library, Providence, R. I.

"I have so many delightful recollections of Mr. Brett, that there is
scarcely another man among his contemporaries in library work whom I
shall miss more.

"He seemed to me to represent one of the most admirable types of man,
in any profession — unusually well-equipped for his work, but quiet, modest,
and self-possessed."

Adam Strohm, Librarian, Public Library, Detroit, Mich.

"He has helped me in professional matters of course — but even more
grateful will I be for the memory of his lovable character, his kindly, un-
affected good-will, free from patronage or self-consciousness. He had a re-
markable gift — and a happy life — in stimulating things that make life worthy
and happy." • i li I

Everett R. Perry, Librarian, Public Library, Los Angeles, California

"He was a rare man. We shall not soon see his like again. But his life
will always be an inspiration to all of you in Cleveland and to the rest of
us as well."

OPEN SHELF 17

George F. Bowerman, Librarian, Public Library, District of Columbia,
Washington, D. C.

"Since the war work has been taken up Mr. Brett has often browsed in
in this library, getting particularly French books for his own reading. On
these visits and at Saratoga he seemed the youngest of us all. I do not need
to tell you how much he was beloved by everybody in the profession. It is
impossible for any one of us to tell how much his personality and example
meant,"

J. I. Wyer, Jr., Director, New York State Library, Albany, N. Y., and Chair-
man of the A. L. A. Library War Service Committee

(Mr. Wyer was an honorary bearer at Mr. Brett's funeral.)

"My day in Cleveland was a most impressive one, so full of convincing
assurance of the respect and affection in which Mr. Brett was held by the
entire great city, and of hearty recognition of the solid part he took in bring-
ing into being and in fostering that city's mind and heart. Sad as were our
duties on that day, yet further review of its lesson and events mark it
strongly as a day of triumph, not of sorrow.

"A life to which had been granted more than the allotted span, one-half
of it spent in successful service to a great city in a compensating and a
worthy work ; a quick death, like a soldier's, at his post. Justified abundantly
of his children ; honored and loved by his near and remoter professional col-
leagues— is there anything more that a few additional years could have
added?"

Thomas L. Montgomery, Pennsylvania State Librarian, Harrisburg, Pa.

"All Pennsylvania librarians mourn with you the loss of your splendid
Librarian. Loyal and true, modest and efficient, he represented the highest
ideals of his profession.

"I have known him twenty-eight years and I well remember the first
time that I saw him. He and I with three others had been consigned to a
single room at the Fabian House in the White Mountains. We were then
of the opinion that the open shelf system was the only way to bring the
books properly into the hands of the people and I think we were about the
only ones at that convention who thought so.

"He must have been a delightful man to have been associated with in
the great work that you have carried on."

M. S. Dudgeon, Secretary of the Wisconsin Free Library Commission,
Madison, Wis.

"Notwithstanding the twenty-five years' difference in our ages I felt
that Mr. Brett was personally more congenial to me than anyone in the pro-
fession— that I would rather visit, travel or talk with him than with anyone
else. His sanity, his kindliness, and his wide interests made him a splendid
companion.

"The characteristics of the Cleveland Public Library system convince me
that he had the ideal combination of qualities, professionally. Nowhere else
do we find technical accuracy, general effectiveness, and splendid spirit better
evidenced than in the system of which he has been the Head for so long.
While all of us realize that he had some splendid co-operation, we feel that
the selection, administration, and inspiration of his co-workers must have
grown out of his professional conceptions and were therefore evidences of
his own professional effectiveness.

"But after all, Mr. Brett's lovable personality was what appealed most
to me and to others."

18 OPEN SHELF

Miss Mary F. Isom, Librarian, Library Association, Portland, Ore.

"He was such a wonderful combination of strength and gentleness.
His look of happy patience always used to please me. I used to love to
watch him at meetings, especially when things weren't going his way. I
think he was about the best beloved librarian in the country. Everybody
felt so tenderly towards him."

Miss Laura Smith, Chief of the Catalog and Reference Departments, Public
Library, Cincinnati, O.

"His taking away is a great personal loss to those of us who had the rare
privilege of knowing him, and the library profession has lost one of its
strongest men."

Miss Mary E. Hall, Librarian, Girls' High School, Brooklyn, N. Y.

"Even knowing Mr. Brett as little as I did, I feel a sense of personal loss
in his death. He was so kindly and always did so much in his quiet way to
help me. He and Mr. Legler of all our 'big' librarians most truly caught the
vision of the new, vital school library for which we are striving for every
school."

The Library Staff, State Normal College, Kent, O.

The librarians of the Kent State Normal College would like to have a
part in the memorial to a man whose memory they honor.

Miss Waller I. Bullock, Head of the Lending Department, Carnegie Library,
Pittsburg, Pa.

"He is such a loss to the whole profession, and few men were so re-
spected and beloved. He has been a leader in every movement for achieve-
ment and we will all miss the inspiration of his presence. What his going
means to those who have been closely associated with him day by day, I
can at least dimly imagine. To you and to them I offer my deepest sym-
pathy."

Miss Helen Haines, Pasadena, Cal., Formerly Managing Editor of The
Library Journal

"There is a strange blankness in realizing that dear Mr. Brett is gone
from the circle of old friends, old fellow-workers. For him, I can only feel
that he has heard the greeting, 'Well done, thou good and faithful servant'
and stepped quickly across the threshold, without the long struggle and
weariness of the flesh, after a life rich in affection, in accomplishment and in
recognition. It is the work and the friends he has left that must suffer and
know that his place can never be filled. I was so happy to know of the
Memorial Library project. It is a beautiful thought; it would make him very
happy and proud too ; and I think it is just what Cleveland would want to do."

Miss Margaret W. Brown, Extension Department, County Library, Santa
Barbara, Cal. 1 1 : i^(

"I rejoice in the plan to carry on his work through the Memorial
Library. No higher tribute could be paid that brave and true patriot, the
tender loving friend. Mr. Brett showed such wonderful understanding and
sympathy to all who touched his life, that I long to help in enriching other
lives as he has mine.

OPEN SHELF 19

"My heart is very full of gratitude that I have known him and I know
that the deepest appreciation I can show is to strive to express in my rela-
tions with people and in my work, some part of that rare quality of spirit,
which he has left to us as a precious heritage."

FROM ORGANIZERS OF LIBRARY WORK WITH CHILDREN

(Mr Brett has been called the greatest Children's Librarian.)

Miss Annie Carroll Moore, Director of Children's Work, Public Library,
New York City

"Ever since Miss Power brought the sad news to us this morning I have
been seeking a quiet place and moment to send you my warmest love and
sympathy. I wish there was something I could do or say to comfort you and
all those grief-stricken people in the Cleveland Library. But my own heart
is too heavy to do anything except claim a share in the great sorrow that has
fallen upon all who have known and loved Mr. Brett. Surely 'we shall not
see his like again.' He was at his very happiest on the morning of our
branch librarian's meeting last May, and I shall always be glad that I
yielded to the impulse to go after him and persuade him to come to the chil-
dren's room as our Birthday guest, he, the father of four American soldiers,
while last year our guest had been a French officer from the trenches. It
was the anniversary of the opening of the Central Building and we sat for a
long time speaking first of the Robin Hood pictures and then of England and
France. He loved our Children's Room so much that I shall always think of
him as having left in it, on what was destined to be his last visit, a very beau-
tiful token of his love of beauty, his belief in childhood, his reverence for
women and faith in such work as ours.

Miss Clara W. Hunt, Superintendent of the Children's Department, Public
Library, Brooklyn, N. Y.

"When I, a student just out of library school, attended my first A. L. A.
meeting, he was the first "big" librarian I saw and I was so impressed with
his fineness and loveableness. I have always found that.he lived up to my first
impression. We are fortunate that we had him so long."

Miss Effie L. Power, Head of the Children's Department, Carnegie Library,
Pittsburgh, Pa.; former Children's Librarian, Cleveland Public Library

"You know how much Mr. Brett meant to me. Every one young and
old who has ever had any contact with him will grieve, but those of us who
have grown up under him will miss him most. I am proud to have been his
first Children's Librarian."

20 OPENSHELF

FROM LIBRARY SCHOOL DIRECTORS AND INSTRUCTORS

(Mr. Brett was Dean of the Western Reserve Library School Jrom
its organization in 1903.

Miss Alice S. Tyler, Director of the Western Reserve Library School, Cleve-
land, O.

"The Memorial Library for overseas seems just what Mr. Brett would
approve as a memorial, for surely the crowning service of his rare and un-
selfish life was in his war work."

Miss Mary E, Hazeltine, Preceptor, Wisconsin Library School, Madison,
Wis.

"My deepest sympathy to you and all connected with the Cleveland
Library, The entire library world mourns with Cleveland."

Miss Josephine Adams Rathbone, Vice-Director, School of Library Science,
Pratt Institute

"I felt, as many others must have, that Mr. Brett was a dear personal
friend as well as one of the best friends professionally both of the school
and its vice-director. Of the loss to the profession as a whole I need not
speak, alas ! it speaks for itself only too plainly."

Miss Mary E. Robbins, Director of Library Training, Rhode Island Normal
School, Providence, R. I.

"While it is so keen a sorrow to you all, everyone who knew him shares
in it. We all admired and respected his work, and each one has some special
kindness to remember."

Miss Sarah N. C. Bogle, Principal, Carnegie Library School, Pittsburgh, Pa.

"Our sympathy is yours in largest measure. Our own sense of loss
is great. We mourn one of the most beloved members of the profession.

"No one could leave so large a place unfilled, it seems to me. It is a
comfort surely to realize that all that he has been cannot die with the body
but that an immortality like his lives forever in what he has done for many,
many people. Each day since I heard of his going, some thoughtful kindly
act of his comes to my mind.

"I remember him at Saratoga so vividly and very tenderly, for he was
so stirred and so wise. With the hope that comfort may in time come to
those who loved him, from Him who took him to dwell with Him ever-
lastingly."

Miss Tommy Dora Barker, Director, Library School of the Carnegie
Library of Atlanta, Ga.

"I feel that I have lost in Mr. Brett a most dear friend, and my library
world seems impossible without him. At the A. L. A., in the Library School,
everywhere, I shall miss him."

Miss Harriet E. Howe, Assistant Professor of Library Science, Simmons
College Library School; formerly Head Instructor, Western Reserve
Library School

"Words seem so futile and come so hard when one tries to express
what he meant to us individually and collectively.

OPEN SHELF 21

"What the library world will lose will be the cheery, unflagging optimism
of his broad views of life and of the profession which he honored. What
splendid monuments he has erected for keeping them alive always ! The
great Cleveland system, the esprit de corps of that staff, the wonderful
war work which he carried, the fine sons of whom he was so proud, the
Library vSchool where his ideals were impressed on so many librarians-to-be,
but above all his 'library family.' Never was a man better 'known by the
company' around him, than Mr. Brett by his official group."

FROM BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL MEN AND WOMEN
IN CLEVELAND AND ELSEWHERE

W. C. Cochran, Cincinnati, O., a friend of Mr. Brett's boyhood in Warren, O.

"His was a happy combination of a sound mind in a sound body ; of
serious purpose with a saving sense of humor; of a rigid standard of morals
for his personal conduct with a generous toleration of the weaknesses and
foibles of others. He was never a 'pestiferous reformer;' but his indirect
and unconscious influence was always for good.

"I have never heard the slightest intimation that a mistake was made
at that time, and it is a great tribute to his merits and his popularity with
all classes that, for thirty-four years, in a city where politics plays such an
important part in the filling of all offices, no administration — Democratic or
Republican — ever thought of such a thing as removing the Public Librarian."
James Bertram, Secretary of the Carnegie Corporation, New York City

"No one who had not occasion, as I had, to consult him continually on
library matters, can imagine the loss Mr. Brett's passing is to the profession
he loved. His long experience in library work, always in the van of progress,
his knowledge of everything and everybody in the library world, and the trust
and affection with which the whole library world regarded him, made Mr.
Brett an invaluable counsellor. His knowledge and ability were always at
the service of those needing help, notably myself, and it may be said that he
spent of both freely and without stint.

"Our friend led a beautiful, happy, busy life. He was one of the rare
characters who stand out unique among one's acquaintances, for to few is
it given to know more than one such man. For me at least his memory will
be always green.

"As to his thirty-four years of service to the City of Cleveland, it is not
for me to speak. That great city has not 'entertained an angel unawares,'
and may be trusted to show its appreciation, not only for thirty-four years
of devoted work, but for the honor reflected on it by having the dean of the
library profession in its service."
Rev, Francis T. Moran, St. Patrick's Church, Cleveland

"Permit me to express my deep regret and sympathy in the death of
Mr. Brett. I had known him in a general way for nearly thirty-five years
and in a rather intimate way for the last seventeen years. I prized his
friendship very highly. He was a man of the noblest character, gentle,
kindly and affectionate. I cannot conceive him as capable of doing or even
wishing harm to anyone ; but I was conscious of his universal good will
and his sincere desire for the largest good of his fellowmen. He served
faithfully and death found him still striving."

Lieutenant Colonel Elliot H. Whitlock, of the 24th Engineers, American
Expeditionary Forces in France; a member of the Cleveland Public Library
Board

"During my intimate association with Mr. Brett I learned to love and
honor him most of all for his unselfish and untiring devotion to his work,
which had for its sole purpose the uplift of the people he served."

22 OPEN SHELF

Frederick Allen Whiting, Director, Cleveland Museum of Art

"I am enclosing my check to be used in connection with the Brett
Memorial ; and only wish the amount of it could in any way represent my
affection for Mr. Brett and the great feeling of loss which I share with all
of you in his going from us so prematurely, at a time when we will feel that
we need him more than ever."

Miss Isabel Simeral, Executive Secretary, Women's City Club of Cleveland

"It has been a rare privilege to have known a man who, while serving
his community fearlessly, ably and faithfully, yet found time to show a
friendly, lovable humanity to all with whom he came in contact."

Miss Edith Guerrier, Library and Exhibits Section, United States Food Ad-
ministration

"The first time I met Mr. Brett I realized that he had the same keen
interest in reading people that he had in reading books and I was glad to be
read by him, for I was sure he knew how to skip my uninteresting pages and
1 knew that he found interesting pages always.

"The person who believes that death is the end had only to look in the
deep kind eyes of that man to know that no death could touch his spirit."

Harry L. Shupe, Architect, Cleveland

"Mr. Brett went quickly like a soldier on duty, as indeed he was — the
finest kind of a soldier. He is mourned by all of us and your loss is ours."

H. H. Cully, Principal, Glenville High School, Cleveland

"What a remarkable man, he was ! A man with a great vision yet sim-
ple as a child in his attitude toward life."

William Townsley, Oberlin, O.

"The thing that we must all do is to keep his ideals and hopes con-
stantly in our minds and to see that we do not fail to 'carry on' to the end."

J. B. Doster, of the H. W. Wilson Company, Publishers of Library Reference
Works, New York City

"This is a keen personal loss, to say nothing of the great loss to the
profession which he loved and served so splendidly.

"Mr. Brett probably never realized how much I appreciated his friend-
ship in the beginning of my career as a publisher when counsel and help
were so much needed. He was a great help to me when I was in Cleveland
and for the first few years I was in Minnesota. He was always very gen-
erous of his time when I had problems which were disturbing me.

"A trip to Cleveland never seemed quite complete without my seeing
Mr. Brett. I shall miss him sadly."

Charles A. Gates, Trustee of the McClymonds Public Library, Massillon, O.,
and a Fraternity Brother in Alpha Delta Phi

"That I, too, with the myriads of his friends, near and afar, will miss his
kindly presence, is brought to me especially.

"As a member of the Board of Trustees of the McClymonds Public
Library at Massillon, I wish to express an appreciation of the kindly aid
he had rendered this institution in the years past. As such beneficiaries we
feel that we have sustained personal loss."

OPEN SHELF ;, 23

FROM FORMER STAFF MEMBERS AND STUDENTS AT WESTERN

RESERVE LIBRARY SCHOOL, AND THE CLEVELAND

TRAINING SCHOOL FOR LIBRARY WORK

WITH CHILDREN

Mrs. A. S. Hobart, Director of the Girls' Bureau, Cleveland, formerly Librar-
ian of Woodland Branch

"His was a spirit that cannot die. I felt it at the Cathedral and felt
again today at the Memorial Staff Meeting that his spirit was even nearer
to us than it had ever been. We were all, I am sure, thinking of the many
beautiful things we should like to say about him. His was a rare and
beautiful spirit — that priceless combination of sweetness and strength; and
he was always kind — I have often wondered how any one could be so in-
variably kind."

Nina C. Brotherton, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, formerly Supervisor
of Story Telling

"More and more I have realized Mr. Brett's greatness. He was always
so easy to approach, so sympathetic, so interested in anything which affected
even his least assistant. He had the power of inspiring us all and of making
us realize that all of our work was worth while. His enthusiasm and ideals
will live on in those who knew him."

Gordon W. Thayer, Military Specialist Company, situated at St. Aignan near
Tours, France ; Librarian of the John G. White Collection, on leave for mili-
tary service

"I was shocked to see a notice of Mr. Brett's death in the Continental
edition of the London Daily Mail. When I last saw him, at Camp Sher-
man, he seemed so vigorous, and I had since heard of him as being so active
in his war work, that he seemed to have many years of usefulness ahead
of him. Association with him was one of the charms of work in Cleveland
and I feel it as a great loss not to be able to see him again."

Miss Gertrude H. Hanna, a member of the staff from 1887 to 1915
"Words cannot express my sorrow at the loss of our friend.
"My twenty-six years working with Mr. Brett taught me lessons no
college course could give, has made a better woman of me, and I learned to
appreciate his marvelous mind, his unselfishness and love for his work."

Thirteen Members of the Staff of the New York Public Library, formerly
connected with the Cleveland Library or the Western Reserve Library School

"We, who have been members of the Cleveland Public Library Staff,
or the Western Reserve Library School, and have known Mr. Brett, feel
very keenly his loss.

"While we cannot express in words, the inspiration, encouragement
and enthusiasm we have always received from him, and what it means to
us to have known him, we do want to have a part in the Memorial Book
Fund, and so are enclosing a money order for twenty dollars.

"Later, we expect to add to this sum and we all sincerely hope that
some day, it will be possible to build a Memorial Library in France for the
soldiers.

24 OPENSHELF

Mrs. Evelyn Hess Allen, Librarian, Birchard Free Library, Fremont, O.;
Western Reserve Library School, 1913.

"Mr. Brett would remember me only as a student at the Library School
and it is as a student there that I was first impressed by the man.

"It may interest you to know that I believe I can repeat almost verbatim
the talk he gave to the graduating class — my graduating class of 1913. He
asked so little of us it seemed to me then. Each year as I worked it out
it seemed so much. He asked us to be 'dependable.' Then he told us that
in any profession there was little glory, that in the library profession there
was least of all, and he said we must feel as the artist of Kipling's 'L'envoi'
felt, that—

*No one shall work for money, and no one shall work for fame,
But each for the joy of the working.'

"The remembrance of the occasion has always been with me and the
spirit of his talk has been a spur."

Mrs. Edna Wood Williamson, Cleveland Training Class for Library Work
with Children, 1901

"The memory of Mr. Brett's charm and kindliness will be with me al-
ways. I suppose he never guessed how even the least of us felt and appre-
ciated his influence."

Elizabeth Doren, Head of the Order Department, Public Library, Dayton, O.;
Western Reserve Library School, 1906

"For Mr. Brett himself, I have the sense that he is going on, crowned
with glory and honor. 'Who will render to every man according to his
deeds : To them, who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory
and honor and immortality, eternal life.'

"To me Mr. Brett has represented a great democratic librarian with the
vision and aspiration for 'glory and honor and immortality' for all the people
through the chosen influence of books and libraries.

"To the library student and worker he made library work human and
helped to make libraries a home out in the world."

Mrs. Florence H. Ridgeway, Assistant Librarian, Berea College Library,
Berea, Ky. ; Western Reserve Library School, 1909

"We Berea librarians feel Mr. Brett's passing with more poignancy
than can most people in the profession not directly connected or associated
with him. He was especially kind, thoughtful and helpful to us whenever
and wherever we met. His interest in our work was always invigorating
to us.

"As one who sat in the class room and heard his lectures, who had op-
portunity to glimpse the greatness of his work and his personality, who has
never escaped the influence of his message of service, I feel that my life has
been wonderfully enriched and my work made better by these associations
and the friendly, helpful greetings that came whenever we met. I am glad
that at the A. L. A. in Louisville last summer I had the chance to tell Mr.
Brett that his last address to our class with its call to high service abides
with me still."

FROM ANDREW CARNEGIE

Happily, the following heart- warming tribute was received by Mr. Brett
during his life-time, and was especially prized as coming from the man
whose appreciation was so generously expressed in terms of endowment for
branch library buildings in Cleveland.

"Dear Mr. Brett:

First, cordial congratulations upon yoiir noble work. You giv me the
value of the libraries, but if I were going to assess your value to Cleveland,
I should hav to add a cypher or two.

"I am wondering what work you ar so deeply interested in. I thot
library work was to be your certain passport into heaven, and hope you
have no reason to be disconcerted in regard to your future prospects in the
next field.

"Remember what Franklin sa}'S, 'the highest worship of God is service
to man.'

"Long life to you, who hav done so much to make it a heaven.

"Yours ever,

"ANDREW CARNEGIE."
November 19th, 1914.

WILLIAM HOWARD BRETT

Bust by Luella Varney Serrao

Presented by present and former members

of the Cleveland Public Library Board, for

the new Main Library building and,

pending its erection, housed by the

Cleveland Museum of Art.

RETURN LIBRARY SCHOOL LIBRARY

TO^^ 2 South Hall 642-2253

LOAN PERIOD 1

ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS

DUE AS STAMPED BELOW

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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY

BERKELEY, CA 94720

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LD21-I00m-12,'43 (8796s)

U.C. BERKELEY LIBRARIES

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