Etta Josselyn Giffin
Etta Josselyn Giffin | |
|---|---|
 "Miss Etta Josselyn Giffen" by Naomi Holt (1933) | |
| Born | Esther Josselyn Giffin July 31, 1863 Newark, Ohio |
| Died | July 29, 1932 (aged 69) |
| Other names | Etta Josselyn Giffen |
| Occupation | Librarian |
| Known for | first director, National Library for the Blind |
Esther "Etta" Josselyn Giffin (July 31, 1863 – July 29, 1932), sometimes seen as Etta Josselyn Giffen, was an American librarian. She was the first director of the National Library for the Blind in Washington, D.C., and a delegate to several international conferences on libraries and services for blind people.
Early life and education[edit]
Giffin was born in Newark, Ohio, and raised in Ottawa, Kansas.[1][2]
Career[edit]
Giffin was the first director of the National Library for the Blind in Washington, D.C. Beginning in 1897 with basic braille texts and a reading room at the Library of Congress,[3] she built a large and diverse collection of materials and established an entertainment schedule, including public readings, game tables with adapted cards and boards,[4] and musical concerts, including works and performances by blind musicians and composers. She raised funds,[5] and hired blind braille copyists to transcribe audio materials.[6][7] The reading room was closed in 1911,[8] and the library was incorporated as an independent organization in 1912, with Giffin as its director.[9][10][11]
Giffin gave a lecture about her work at the American Association of Workers for the Blind, held in Boston in 1907.[12] She was a delegate to at least five International Conferences on the Blind, in Brussels (1902),[13] Edinburgh (1905), Manchester (1908),[1] Vienna (1910),[14] Cairo (1911),[15][16] and London (1914).[17][18] "I am happy to state that practical aid for the blind is finding its way rapidly into all parts of the world," she told a newspaper in 1911 on her return from Cairo.[19] During and after World War I, she arranged for recreational and rehabilitation materials to be provided to military hospitals for American soldiers blinded in battle.[6]
Publications[edit]
- "Reading Room for the Blind, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C." (1907)[12]
- "National Library for the Blind" (1925)[20]
Personal life[edit]
Giffin died in 1932, two days before her 69th birthday.[21] She was the subject of a posthumous biography, Etta Josselyn Giffin: Pioneer Librarian for the Blind (1959) by Victoria Faber Stevenson, with an introduction by Helen Keller.[22]
References[edit]
- ^ a b "Kansas Woman in Library". The Topeka State Journal. 1910-05-03. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-05-07 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Etta Giffin's Work; What a Bright Ottawa Girl is Doing for the Afflicted". The Ottawa Daily Republic. 1902-02-10. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-05-07 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Reading for the Blind; A Unique Feature of the Congressional Library". The Press Herald. 1898-12-23. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-05-07 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Yoder, Florence E. (1914-02-07). "Where the Blind Are Happy; A Sidelight Story on What One Woman Has Done to Bring Cheer to the Unfortunate". The Washington Times. p. 9. Retrieved 2023-05-07 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "National Library for the Blind". The New Outlook for the Blind. 5 (2): 33. Summer 1911.
- ^ a b Appold, Juliette (2022-03-03). "Etta Josselyn Giffin: A Role Model of Women's Enduring Leadership | NLS Music Notes". The Library of Congress. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
- ^ "Library for New Blind Institution". The Evening Mail. 1912-12-26. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-05-07 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Sightless Washingtonians Feel that they are Exiles Since Losing Reading Room at Congressional Library". The Washington Times. 1911-07-08. p. 6. Retrieved 2023-05-07 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "National Library for Blind People Planned". Jackson Daily News. 1911-12-02. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-05-07 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Make Books for the Blind". Carbondale Free Press. 1912-01-08. p. 4. Retrieved 2023-05-07 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Library for the Blind Re-Elects its Officers". Evening Star. 1915-12-08. p. 10. Retrieved 2023-05-07 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "Program of the Ninth Convention of the American Association of Workers for the Blind" The New Outlook for the Blind 1(3)(October 1907): 84, 135-136.
- ^ "Goes to Europe in Aid of Blind". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 1902-06-13. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-05-07 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Blind Conditions Studied; Miss Etta Giffin Returns from Trip to Europe". The Washington Herald. 1910-09-28. p. 5. Retrieved 2023-05-07 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Correspondence and Jottings". The New Outlook for the Blind. 5 (1): 15. Spring 1911.
- ^ "Miss Etta J. Giffin Only Woman Delegate". The Frederick Post. 1911-03-23. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-05-07 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ International Conference on the Blind (1914). Report of the International Conference on the Blind and Exhibition of the Arts and Industries of the Blind Held at The Church House, Westminster June 18th to 24th 1914. Inc American Printing House for the Blind. Agnew, & Co. Ld. p. 16.
- ^ "To World Blind Conference; Misses Helen Keller and Etta J. Giffin Elected Delegates". Evening Star. 1914-05-14. p. 7. Retrieved 2023-05-07 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Miss Etta J. Giffin Only Woman Delegate". The Frederick Post. 1911-03-23. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-05-07 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Giffin, Etta Josselyn (September 1925). "National Library for the Blind". Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness. 19 (2): 37–40. doi:10.1177/0145482X2501900220. ISSN 0145-482X. S2CID 220538210.
- ^ "Miss Etta Giffen's Work to Continue; Aides to Carry on at Library for the Blind in Tribute to Her". Evening Star. 1932-08-07. p. 22. Retrieved 2023-05-07 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Stevenson, Victoria Faber (1959). Etta Josselyn Giffin: Pioneer Librarian for the Blind. National Library for the Blind.