It has been difficult to find opinions of this woman's character, other than the standard words of praise that are spread so thick as to be lacking real information. Clearly she was a woman of intellect and scholarly pursuits above the norm. She had a reading and speaking knowledge of four languages: French, German, Italian, and Spanish. She was a literary critic and a poet who chose to practice librarianship. She was noted for her "scholarly tastes and her warm friendship with European librarians and writers [which] contributed definitely to the cosmopolitan atmosphere of the library and the whole institution with which she was associated" (Moore). Within the field she contributed to Children's Services and International Relations. She must have been a woman who saw the practical side of librarianship, by her comments on Children's Services:
...is it not a better enthusiasm which enables one to work on steadily for years with undiminished courage than the kind that exhausts itself in the great vivacity of its first feeling and effort? (Holbrook)
Though she had "a positive genius for the making of an interesting program of any kind--professional, literary, or purely social" (Moore), she was not a vivacious woman: "As a woman she had great charm, and a host of friends, though her Quaker upbringing resulted in a reserve that made casual contact difficult for her" (Wilson Library Bulletin, June 1949). Career
1888 - Graduated from the first class at the Columbia Library School.
1888 - First library appointment was as a cataloger at the St. Louis Public Library.
1890 - Move to the Pratt Institute Free Library to organize training classes for librarians.
1893 - Acting Curator of the Pratt Institute Educational Exhibit during the Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
1895 - Made Director of Pratt Library and the Pratt Library School and given a year leave-of-absence for study and travel in Europe to prepare for her new position.
1900 - U.S. delegate to the International Congress of Libraries, Paris.
1911 - Called to organize the new Library School of the New York Public Library.
1915 - Elected 2nd female president of the ALA.