HERBERT PUTNAM
PUTNAM, HERBERT, lawyer, librarian, president of the American Library association, and librarian of congress since March 13, 1899, was born in New York, September 20, 1861. His father, George Palmer Putnam, was a publisher. He was for some time collector of internal revenue, in New York, and was also a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of the same city. His mother's maiden name was Victorine Haven. Israel Putnam of revolutionary fame was a distinguished ancestor. Prepared for college at J. H. Morse's private school, he was graduated from Harvard college in 1883. From 1883-84 he studied law at Columbia college law school. He was called to Minneapolis in 1884 as librarian of the Athenaeum, which in 1887 he organized as the Minneapolis public library, conducting it until December, 1891. He was admitted to the bar of Minnesota; and he practised law in Boston, Massachusetts, from 1892-95. In the latter year he accepted the position of librarian of the Boston public library. During the four following years, the income of the library increased from one hundred and ninety thousand to two hundred and sixty-three thousand dollars, and great improvements were made in the different departments, and particularly in the methods for the circulation of books. He held the presidency of the Massachusetts library club during the year, 1896-97, and in this latter year represented the United States as delegate to the international library conference. In 1898 and 1904 he was president of the American Library Association.
Appointed March 13, 1899, the librarian of congress, he continues to hold the office (1906). He is a writer of articles chiefly upon library themes which have appeared in various journals. He belongs to the Tavern club, Boston; to the Cosmos and the Metropolitan clubs of Washington, District of Columbia, and is an overseer of Harvard college. He is fond of walking, rowing, tennis and cycling.
The vocation of librarian has recently become a profession. Courses of study preparatory to the work of a practical librarian are considered almost indispensable. Men who have given time, energy
