Early
Years of the Booher Library
Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest
Frederick
L. Chenery
|
| In
1953 the weather in New York City was ideal. I enjoyed and benefited
from two good courses at the Columbia University Library School.
At the conclusion of the summer session I boarded a train for
Austin. The farthest south I had been before was Baltimore, Maryland
and the farthest west Cooperstown, New York. There had been drought
in Texas, and the view from the train window as we headed for
Austin was most discouraging. I got off the train at the Austin
station and experienced heat I had never known before. For a moment
I wondered if I should call a cab and go to the hotel where Dean
Blandy would meet me that evening or stay at the station waiting
for the next train going north.
|
| After
lunch at the hotel I bought a city map and walked to 2607 University
Avenue, a house rented by the Seminary. I just had to get a glimpse
of where I would begin my first full-time professional position.
Dean Blandy was amazed I had done this. I didn't know that people
don't walk in Austin. Not having a car or a driver's license,
what choice did I have? |
| The
library occupied two rooms on the main floor and a screened porch
behind the house. The porch must also have had windows for I remember
students could study there on cool days. The large living room
had tall wooden bookcases on two walls at one end of the room
with the books the seminary had acquired. A table in the center
of the room had the coffee maker, and would soon have trays for
circulation and catalog cards. At the other end of the room were
one or two empty steel ranges of shelving. What had been the dining
room served as the library office and workroom. A snapshot I sent
you showed how crowded we were. |
| Mary
Carlisle, wife of a senior student, was assigned to work with
me. After a few weeks Mrs. Robert H. (Lucille) Wilson visited
the library. She had resigned a position with the Texas State
Library, and hoped for part-time work. She joined us as cataloger,
and in time was named assistant librarian. Several students on
the work-study program helped. |
| At
age 26 I was younger than most of the students. I remember one
of them saying, "If you make any rules governing use of the
library, we won't follow them." This was good advice. Another
time, after I had cataloged and classified some books, a student
wanted to know where the orange book was that had been on a certain
shelf. |
| Sooner
than I had dared hope I had established procedures for ordering,
classifying, cataloging, and circulating books. With some pride
I showed Dean Blandy the first two books completed. He said, "You've
been here two months and have cataloged two books. We'll call
you the “Chenery book of the month club.” |
| During
this1953-54 year the architectural firm of Fehr and Granger developed
plans for two [rectangular buildings] on the site at Rathervue
Place [the footprints of the south classroom and McDonald buildings].
One building was to be completed as a dormitory. The other building
was to serve temporarily as offices and classrooms on the first
floor and the library on the second. Many interior walls, kitchenettes
and bathroom fixtures were omitted to create the spaces we needed.
I remember that Carl Lewis, the bookkeeper, worked in what would
later be a bathroom. |
| In
September 1954 we moved to Rathervue Place. The dormitory building
was not ready for use, so for a month the single students lived
with faculty members. I had carefully labeled each piece of furniture
and box of books showing where they were to go in the new library,
but this was futile because the first floor of the building was
not quite ready and all office furniture wound up in the library
space for several days. |
| After
the first floor was ready and occupied, we settled the library
and for two years the space served us well. We developed plans
for the new library building that was completed in October 1956. |
| Now
I'll ramble on about episodes I remember which will probably not
be of use in your history, but may be of interest. |
| I
recall registration day in 1954 clearly. Gundred Embree, the registrar,
dean's secretary, and receptionist was a most gracious soft-spoken
lady. She was working that day in the library near my office.
She was doing her best to greet the students and make them feel
welcome, but that was not easy. The air conditioner was not in
use, so we had to have windows open. A bulldozer was working near
the building making a loud noise and sending in clouds of dust.
It broke a water main so we had no running water. A student who
lived across the street supplied us with cold water and/or iced
tea. |
| A
new student, Esteban Saucedo, was not expected. Gundred [Embree,
the registrar] asked if he might stay with me temporarily. When
the dormitory opened the Dean said he had to move there, but Steve
said he didn't see why he couldn't continue eating with me. He
came for dinner most evenings for three years. We spent two Christmas
vacations at his home in Mexico City. We are Godparents to his
son, and he and Yolanda are Godparents to our younger daughter.
We had a good visit when we went to the wedding of their younger
daughter in 1997. How fortunate it was that Gundred asked if he
could stay with me. |
| One
or both years we were in the temporary library Cay Watts, wife
of student Bill Watts, worked at the circulation desk. She came
to work one morning tired and excited with a story to tell. They
had a dachshund named Bp. Magoo. During the night while he was
sleeping between Bill and Cay he was sick. Perhaps the heat of
the electric blanket caused it. Cay had trouble changing the bedding
with Bill still asleep. After she went back to bed she realized
she had to shampoo her hair. With repeated tellings during the
day other details were added. That afternoon, when she had a new
audience, Prof. Franklin Young came in. He probably knew little
about the Watts family, and surely not about their pets. To. avoid
going back to the beginning of the story Cay said, "Oh, Dr.
Young, I was telling my friends about last night when Bp. Magoo
was in bed between Bill and me." I would gladly have paid
$25 for a photograph of Dr. Young's face. |
| Fr.
Watts died from a brain tumor a few years after ordination. We
worried about Cay for she had seemed so dependent on Bill. Before
they married she had taken some courses at a "finishing"
school. Her parents had sent her there, but as she said "It
didn't take." Her son David was a student at the University
of Texas, and she joined him there. Had she been willing to take
one more course she would have been awarded Phi Beta Kappa. She
went on to earn a degree is social work and obtained a good position.
She remarried after a few years. |
| One
summer in the temporary quarters the eldest son and only daughter
of Bp. John and Helen Hines worked for us. We appreciated their
competent help and pleasant dispositions. |
| I
visited the home of Judge and Mrs. Charles L. Black to look at
the room that was to be moved to the Seminary library. Mrs. Black
wanted the space to be used as a play area for their grandchildren.
|
| At
first we planned to have the Black room on the second floor, but
our consultant wisely said it would then just be a museum and
we should put it on the main floor and find uses for it. |
| The
wrought iron chandeliers in the room hung too low in our building.
The craftsman [Wegel] who made them was still active, so he shortened
the stems. It was not possible to have the French doors (or windows?)
that had-opened into the yard, so we filled in the space with
plywood and installed a hi-fi set there. We put the door that
had opened to the front hall next to the counter where we had
the refrigerator and hot plates so it was easy to use the room
for receptions. We had permission to remove a certain percentage
of books that did not have significant value and that cleared
one (or two?) bookcases for rare books we added. |
| After
the Black room was installed in the library, Mrs. Black asked
to have a reception for friends and family. She said that of course
it would have to be in the morning. |
| In
the early summer of 1956, I drove to New England to visit my family.
Before I left I wrote to Dr. Manross [is that name correct?],
librarian of the Church Historical Society [which would later
become the Archives of the Episcopal Church], offering to come
to Philadelphia to see the collection and visit with him. I received
no reply, so did not go. Sometime during the summer the library
was boxed and shipped to Austin. The building was far from ready
to receive the boxes, so they stayed in the heat on the railroad
siding or were moved to a warehouse. When we could receive them,
I stayed on the second floor while the movers brought up the boxes.
Each box had a letter that meant nothing to me. I would open a
box with a certain letter, decide what category of material it
contained, guess how much of that type of material there might
be, and direct the movers to put boxes with that letter in a certain
place on the floor. But later I would open a box with that letter
and it would be different material. A few weeks after the move
Dr. Manross sent us the shipping list. |
| I
had the title of librarian of the Society, but don't think I spent
much time working there. Larry and Ann Brown did work with the
materials, and we hired a student wife, Mrs. John (Martha) Gray.
Probably I helped prepare the order for furniture and shelving.
|
| When
I could spare the time, I took courses at the University of Texas
Graduate School of Library Science, finally receiving my MLS degree
in August 1960. My thesis topic was A Survey of Research Sources
for the Study of Protestant Episcopal Churches in Texas. |
| I
lived in an apartment in a duplex on Tom Green Street, and a student
family lived in the other apartment. One summer Jim Copeland frequently
came to the library to study, and his dog Sebastian often came
with him, or followed him later. His favorite spot was my office,
and I was glad for his company. (A few years later Sebastian came
to live with my family and me.) At another time Mike Keppler's
dog often came to the library. The dog had some skin problem that
required medication, and we weren't pleased to have him there.
John Kinney had a dog named Agnes who had lost a leg. We liked
her, so said we would only allow three-legged dogs in the library. |
| The
American Theological Library Association [ATLA] used to have,
perhaps still does, a post-conference tour after the annual conference.
In June 1957 the conference was held at the Southwestern Baptist
Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. The advance publicity said
there would be a. post-conference tour with stops for tea at Perkins
School of Theology in Dallas Friday afternoon with a stay at the
school that night. Saturday morning the bus would leave for Waco
for a visit to the Browning Library at Baylor University, and
then go on to Austin. Norman Dow, librarian at the Austin Presbyterian
Theological Seminary, had arranged for the visitors to eat at
a Mexican restaurant and spend the night in the Seminary dormitory.
Sunday breakfast would be in our new library. |
| Dr.
Elliott was the librarian at Southwestern. His associate did his
best to take care of arrangements at the Seminary, but he did
not find any information about the tour. When Mr. Dow and I arrived
we could only say to those planning to take the tour that all
was in order and we would soon make an announcement. Decherd Turner,
librarian at Perkins, had not noted the advance notice of the
tour and was not pleased to learn that he was hosting the visitors
Friday afternoon and night. Summer school was in session, so he
could not house the guests on campus. Probably the librarian at
the Browning Library had not been notified of the visit there,
but he was able to accommodate us. I didn't go to Dallas, but
think they did arrange for a bus from Fort Worth to Dallas. No
bus was available for the trip to Waco and Austin, so tourists
with cars took passengers who had not driven to Fort Worth. I
remember hearing that a suitcase blew off the top of one car.
Fortunately Mr. Dow and I had made plans, so the visit to Austin
went well. Our building consultant and my mentor, Raymond P. Morris
of Yale Divinity School, [who developed the “Morris List”
of essential titles needed for a seminary library] came to our
library Saturday evening for a private visit. I remember his saying
that he knew from the plans that the library would work, but he
didn't realize it would be so beautiful. |
| Sunday
breakfast was a happy occasion. The library staff had prepared
delicious food, and the visitors were favorably impressed by the
library and hospitality. The only negative comment I heard was
that the children of one of the delegates were taking all the
strawberries out of the fruit bowl. |
| An
item of interest to the Seminary community in 1959 was the news
that Lucie Böttcher and I had become engaged. She was spending
the school year with Dietrich and Rosemarie Ritschl and their
three young sons. Dr. Ritschl taught at the Presbyterian Seminary.
We wanted Dr. Ritschl to perform the wedding ceremony and it was
celebrated at a village church near the Ritschl's summer home
in Reigoldswil, Switzerland. Dean Blandy said I might have the
summer off so we could travel for a few weeks after the wedding. |
| Yes,
we did do some serious work at the library while I was there.
We had generous financial support, and the Dean encouraged the
development of a strong collection. |
| You
surely have had contact with faculty and staff members who were
at the Seminary in the mid 60s and know they were difficult times.
The year before I went on sabbatical I was aware that there were
problems. When I was at Oxford University in 1965-66, I had almost
no news from the Seminary, and was shocked when I returned in
the fall of 66 to learn what had happened and the problems we
faced. [The “Death of God” controversy hit the seminary
hard. Many faculty as well as students left, and the seminary
went through a difficult time financially. This period ended soon
after the arrival of Dean Gordon Charleton 1973-1983, who was
credited heavily with turning the seminary around financially.] |
| The
news I have had from the Seminary in recent years tells me the
school has become much stronger and is serving the Church effectively.
I am glad to know that, and I hope it continues to grow in service. |
| Several
major changes occurred in the library while Harold Booher was
librarian. We receive Christmas letters from him and Pat and we
know from Seminary publications that the Booher library is full
to capacity and that some major changes will be necessary. Will
the Church Historical Society Library [the national archives]
remain at the Seminary? Will there be a new building? |
| I'll
be interested in reading your history of the Booher Library when
you [Rob] have finished it. |
| Sincerely
yours,
Frederick Chenery
|
