Carrie Westlake Whitney
Born
Carrie Westlake

1854 (1854)
Fayette County, Virginia, U.S.
DiedApril 8, 1934(1934-04-08) (aged 79–80)
Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.
Resting placeForest Hill Calvary Cemetery
Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.
Other namesCarrie Westlake Judson
Occupationlibrarian
Spouses
E. W. Judson
​
(m. 1875)​
    James Steele Whitney
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1885; died 1890)​

    Carrie Westlake Whitney (1854 – April 8, 1934) was an American librarian. Known as the mother of Kansas City, Missouri's library system, she was the first director of the Kansas City Public Library.[1][2] She moved to Kansas City and worked as a bookkeeper, renting a room from James Greenwood, the Kansas City superintendent.[3] Greenwood hired her in 1881 when the library was still a subscription library, calling her "the smartest woman I have ever known."[3]

    By 1897, Whitney had fully ended the library's subscription model, and all city residents were allowed access to the library.[2] The collection, which was described as "2,000 catalogued books, plus about a thousand volumes of government documents, reports, and periodicals," was enlarged to 30,000 items by 1897.[2] By 1899, the solo library had grown to include a staff of 28 adults and nine young male pages.[2] In 1901, she was elected to be the first president of the Missouri Library Association.[2][4]

    Whitney had strong opinions about reading, including keeping reading for younger people tightly controlled claiming, "One unwholesome book will contaminate an entire school."[2]

    In 1908, she published a three-volume history entitled Kansas City, Missouri: Its History and its People which included biographies of notable local people as well as a history of the city.[2] She was demoted from her position to assistant librarian in 1910 with The Kansas City Journal saying her position should be held by a man, an opinion supported by the local Board of Education.[2][4] She was replaced by Purd Wright—who had come back to Missouri after one year at the head of Los Angeles Public Library—and was terminated in 1912.[2][5]

    Personal life

    Carrie Westlake was born in 1854 in Fayette County, Virginia, to Wellington and Helen Van Waters Westlake. In 1861, her family moved to Pettis County Missouri near Sedalia.[2] In 1875, she married E. W. Judson in Sedalia. In 1885, she married newspaperman James Steele Whitney; he died in 1890.[1] She spent the last four decades of her life living with Miss Frances Bishop, whom her obituary described as an "inseparable friend".[4]

    Carrie Whitney died on April 8, 1934, and is buried in the Forest Hill Calvary Cemetery in Kansas City, Missouri.[6]

    References

    1. 1 2 "Carrie Westlake Whitney is Dead". The Sedalia Democrat. April 9, 1934. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
    2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Christian, Shirley (May 26, 2010). "Carrie Westlake Whitney". Kansas City Library. The Woman's City Club Foundation. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
    3. 1 2 "Carrie Westlake Whitney". SqueezeBoxCity. December 27, 2014. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
    4. 1 2 3 "Mother, May I... Check Out This Book?". KC History. April 8, 1934. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
    5. ↑ "KCPL Timeline". Kansas City Public Library. November 14, 2019. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
    6. ↑ "Carrie Westlake (Judson) Whitney". scenicregional.org. Archived from the original on October 8, 2022. Retrieved October 8, 2022.
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