Melvil
Dewey: Patron Saint of American Librarianship?
Melvil Dewey was a very interesting man. He is perhaps best known throughout the world as the “decimal guy,” being credited for creating one of the most widely used decimal systems in the world, for which it is named after him. But not many know what the man was really like, womanizer, favorer, and racist. Therefore I do not think Melvil Dewey should be honored as the patron of saint of American librarianship.
Dewey grew up lacking affection from others; his mother was a very hard worker who sometimes never had time for her children. “His mother, he recalled, was “so over-worked. . . she had no time to fuss with babies, so my older sister had practically the entire care of me from infancy.” (Garrison) So because he lacked this affection growing up, in his later life women became very important to Dewey. When he taught at the various library schools, he had women worshipping him. These women were drawn to him and willing to do anything for him. They would spend hours at his home weekly, and became very close to the women. “Florence Woodworth, vivacious and barely five feet tall, shared his home for seventeen years and acted as mother to his son Godfrey, born in 1887, on the many occasions when Dewey’s wife was away.” (Garrison) So Dewey spent a lot of time with various women besides his wife and not much was written about these affairs by Dewey’s biographers because they did not want to portray him in a negative light. “He habitually spent his leisure hours with women, on carriage or bike rides, on vacations, in his home… he shared his home with one or more warmly intimate female friends.” (Garrison) So who knows what went on as far as his relationships with those women. “There were four prominent women in the ALA…they charged Dewey with forcing unwelcome attention upon some unidentified woman during the Alaska trip.” (Garrison)
It was his close relationships to those women that made others believe they got special treatment and were favored more by Dewey. Being in a position of authority, Dewey was responsible for library employees and their wages at Albany. At one time he had to cut salaries of his employees, but to the surprise of other employees, Dewey’s precious Florence Woodworth and May Seymour received an increase in salary. "During the same period of time when he boasted that he had cut salaries by 30 percent, Woodworth and Seymour were given constant salary increases. Both were hired at $800 in 1889; Woodworth had advanced to $1,800 by 1899, and Seymour to $2,100. In 1896 both Woodworth and Seymour passed Cutler in Salary range. It may have been actions like this that led to charges against Dewey of favoritism in hiring and promotion." (Garrison) So Dewey had various controversies regarding his authoritarian style of work. Not just the favoritism, but forcing employees to buy bicycles and making them live in a boardinghouse. Not an employer I would like to work for.
Not only was he all these things, but he was also accused of being a racist in 1906. Dewey started a club at Lake Placid where other librarians like him would go there for vacation. But absent from this place were Jewish people. Dewey was accused of purposely keeping the Jews out of the area. "The conflict with the regents centered upon Dewey’s long-standing prejudice against Jews. From the beginning the endeavor at Lake Placid had included an effort to prevent Jewish property-owners from buying in the vicinity. In one of his many letters intended to drum up visitors to the Club, Dewey had written in 1896 to a prospective client that a look at Lake Placid’s handbook would assure that “no Jews or strangers or consumptives or other guests who can fairly be annoying to cultivated people are received under any circumstances.” (Garrison) So Dewey made a concerted attempt to keep Jewish people out the Lake Placid area and Club, not something worthy of being honored for patron of saint of American librarianship.
I definitely do not think Melvil Dewey should be honored as the patron of saint of American librarianship, because soon being one of those members of librarianship do not want him to represent my profession. Sure he has the decimal system named after him, but if those educators and administrators that employ the system in their school libraries found out what kind of things he did when he was president of the ALA, I think a different system would be employed. He did good things and he did bad things, and one cannot fault him for making mistakes because we all do. But I think there could be someone else besides Melvil Dewey to be honored as the patron of saint of American librarianship