Charles Coffin Jewett
Encyclopedia
Charles Coffin Jewett was the Librarian and Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution
in 1848 before becoming Superintendent of the Boston Public Library
in 1858.
, and soon transferred to Brown University
.
in 1848, and began the task of building the Smithsonian's library by soliciting catalogs from prominent libraries and publishing a survey of U.S. libraries. He also started mechanical duplication of individual catalog entries. Jewett was unanimously elected president at the first Librarian's Convention in 1853. Jewett left the Smithsonian after being relieved of his position due to conflicts with his supervisor and the Board of Regents over how the Institution's funds were being allocated. He went on to become Superintendent of the Boston Public Library
in 1858, where he remained until his death.
of all the public libraries in the United States. This catalog would give scholars access to important books, point out differences in intellectual fields, and generally act as an aid to the evolution of knowledge while making the Smithsonian Institution the preeminent center for research. He spent the greater part of his life developing guidelines toward this end.
, and believed stringent rules the only way to avoid confusion, no matter how difficult it made things for users.
while working at his desk in the Boston Public Library.
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
in 1848 before becoming Superintendent of the Boston Public Library
Boston Public Library
The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was the first publicly supported municipal library in the United States, the first large library open to the public in the United States, and the first public library to allow people to...
in 1858.
Early life
He graduated from Salem Latin School, entered Dartmouth CollegeDartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
, and soon transferred to Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
.
Career
His first cataloging experience took place as a Brown student while helping to catalog the library of the Philermenian Literary Society. In 1837, he entered Andover Theological Seminary, where he helped catalog the Andover Theological Seminary Library. In 1841, he became the librarian of Brown University. He extensively rearranged that library, and created a catalog in two parts; an alphabetical descriptive catalog of the items in the library, and an alphabetical Index of Subjects. After its completion in 1843, he embarked on a two year campaign of book purchasing and study in Europe. He became Librarian and Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian InstitutionSmithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
in 1848, and began the task of building the Smithsonian's library by soliciting catalogs from prominent libraries and publishing a survey of U.S. libraries. He also started mechanical duplication of individual catalog entries. Jewett was unanimously elected president at the first Librarian's Convention in 1853. Jewett left the Smithsonian after being relieved of his position due to conflicts with his supervisor and the Board of Regents over how the Institution's funds were being allocated. He went on to become Superintendent of the Boston Public Library
Boston Public Library
The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was the first publicly supported municipal library in the United States, the first large library open to the public in the United States, and the first public library to allow people to...
in 1858, where he remained until his death.
National library
Jewett had a vision for a national library, which would hold a union catalogUnion catalog
A union catalog is a combined library catalog describing the collections of a number of libraries. Union catalogs have been created in a range of media, including book format, microform, cards and more recently, networked electronic databases...
of all the public libraries in the United States. This catalog would give scholars access to important books, point out differences in intellectual fields, and generally act as an aid to the evolution of knowledge while making the Smithsonian Institution the preeminent center for research. He spent the greater part of his life developing guidelines toward this end.
Views on cataloging
Jewett was a strong advocate for alphabetical catalogs, both because of their convenience to catalogers and their user-friendliness. He believed that catalogs should be more than lists of titles, and should contain bibliographical and biographical information. Individual printed cards kept the costs of printing the catalog down. His idea of the union catalog included the use of “stereotyped plates,” which was a set of mass-produced titles that were created according to a set of strict rules. Jewett was hugely concerned with uniformityUniformity
Uniformity may refer to:* Distribution uniformity, a measure of how uniformly water is applied to the area being watered* Religious uniformity, the promotion of one state religion, denomination, or philosophy to the exclusion of all other religious beliefs...
, and believed stringent rules the only way to avoid confusion, no matter how difficult it made things for users.
Death
Charles Jewett died after suffering an attack of apoplexyApoplexy
Apoplexy is a medical term, which can be used to describe 'bleeding' in a stroke . Without further specification, it is rather outdated in use. Today it is used only for specific conditions, such as pituitary apoplexy and ovarian apoplexy. In common speech, it is used non-medically to mean a state...
while working at his desk in the Boston Public Library.
Sources
- Charles C. Jewett. Notices of public libraries in the United States of America. Printed by order of Congress, as an appendix to the Fourth annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Washington, Printed for the House of Representatives, 1851.
- Historical Development of Ideas Concerning Library Catalogues: Their Purpose and Organization, by Moya K. Mason
- Charles Coffin Jewett, by the Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed.
- Harris,M(editor).(1975).The Age of Jewett: Charles Coffin Jewett and American Librarianship, 1841-1868. Littleton, Colo: Libraries Unlimited, Inc.