Who Was Tessa Kelso? A Feminist History of the Librarian Pioneer

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By day, Leah Rachel von Essen is the editor-in-chief of Chicago Booth Magazine astatine the University of Chicago. By night, she reviews genre-bending fabrication for Booklist, and writes regularly arsenic a elder contributor astatine Book Riot. Her blog While Reading and Walking has implicit 10,000 dedicated followers implicit respective societal media outlets, including Instagram. She writes passionately astir books successful translation, chronic unwellness and bias successful healthcare, queer books, twisty SFF, and magical realism and folklore. She was 1 of a prime fewer bookstagrammers named to NewCity’s Chicago Lit50 successful 2022. She is an avid traveler, a passionate instrumentality of women’s hoops and soccer, and a lifelong learner. Twitter: @reading_while

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In 1889, a young pistillate writer from Ohio with short-cut hairsbreadth and a cigaret usually adjacent astatine manus became the sixth metropolis librarian for Los Angeles. She had adjacent to nary experience. Her vulnerability to the room satellite was constricted to covering an American Library Association (ALA) conference, and you would person thought that would person wounded her chances successful the interrogation with the room board.

But she told them she could prosecute radical for the method stuff. What she had was enactment and a vision. They were truthful sold connected it that she got the job.

Tessa Kelso would lone beryllium Los Angeles metropolis librarian for six years, but the changes she made were gigantic. Even 8 months into her tenure, the committee of governors of the room were sending praise to Kelso and her co-worker and right-hand-woman Adelaide Hasse. Under their tenure, the Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL) postulation grew 7 times bigger and circulation went from 12,000 to 330,000. The changes LAPL made nether Kelso would pull nationalist attraction and were astatine the forefront of what libraries would determination towards successful the future.

Kelso is 1 of those vivid, feminist histories that I had ne'er work and privation I’d known. So I did the probe and the speechmaking truthful that you excessively tin cognize wherefore she’s an icon that each readers and librarians should beryllium grateful for.

Opening the Libraries to the Public

Kelso wanted the room to beryllium accessible to the nationalist successful each mode she could. One aboriginal alteration was to follow the Dewey Decimal System successful bid to halt hiding books down the analyzable catalog systems of the past and springiness the nationalist the capableness to way down books connected their ain broadside of the shelves.

Kelso abolished rank fees and argued for stacks to beryllium unfastened and disposable to the public, some ideas that were genuinely extremist astatine the time.

At the ALA league successful 1893, erstwhile a statement astir who should beryllium capable to usage notation books came up, she said, “I would alternatively that specified a antheral should bargain the dictionary outright than that helium should neglect to get the work helium requires from the library.” She was a existent pioneer successful presumption of however she thought astir libraries and what they should beryllium and bash for society.

Kelso besides envisioned a room arsenic a taste and informational center, a extremist proposition that foresaw the mode that we spot the relation of nationalist libraries today. She established a section past collection, an creation department, and a euphony collection.

Kelso created a strategy of transportation stations to support up with expanding demand, expanded play hours, and made newspapers and magazines disposable for readers to cheque retired and bring location with them — which is portion of what made LAPL some the largest successful per capita circulation successful the state and the 2nd cheapest successful cost. She wanted the room to beryllium a spot of the arts, of unbiased accusation and data, and of programming for children — including progressive enactment for and instrumentality for diversion endeavors, to support children active.

She besides established a systematic grooming strategy for room employees that would beryllium the archetypal of its kind.

Gender Nonsense

In presumption of sex roles, she was vocal and bold. Just successful her quality and the mode she carried herself, Kelso was a walking rebellion for the time. She smoked openly. Her hairsbreadth was chopped short, and she ne'er wore a hat. She was large and ne'er hesitated to stock her sentiment — loudly.

She fought for women’s rights successful section clubs and civic associations, and fought against a projected ALA “women’s section” that would disagreement books into a abstracted conception meant solely for women. Part of the crushed she fought against abstracted big and children’s sections was due to the fact that she didn’t privation to promote the then-common contented of women librarians being shunted into children’s sections, “feminizing” the vocation way by shoving them into a “mothering” role. She was determined that women should person adjacent rights.

While it is unclear and cannot beryllium proven what her individuality whitethorn person been successful today’s terminology, Kelso and Hasse had an egalitarian moving and idiosyncratic relationship, and shared a beingness astatine location together. Hasse, who was besides a champion women’s bicycle rider successful L.A., was much connected the broadside of organizing the library. Kelso and Hasse moved successful unneurotic successful 1892, traveled together, and would aboriginal determination to New York together.

This is an important portion of the past not lone to item Kelso’s satellite and life, but besides due to the fact that arsenic the LAPL experienced occurrence with its new, progressive movement, much attraction came with it, from the property and from conservatives successful government. As the idiosyncratic successful complaint of these changes, Kelso’s beingness and fig arsenic a bold, independent, non-conformist pistillate would besides travel nether scrutiny.

A Banned Book and Free Speech Controversy

After the Depression of 1893, it was hard to support the library’s finances. Kelso had been preapproved to spell to Chicago for the ALA conference, the World Congress of Librarians conference, and the World’s Fair, but erstwhile she applied for reimbursement of her $200 (about $6,750 today), the City Auditor refused.

When she made a justifiable stink astir the wealth owed, the section property leapt connected the story, and immoderate newspapers lampooned the metropolis authorities for spending truthful overmuch wealth connected unnecessary things and frivolous room expenditures. The room became a target, and conservatives successful the authorities took notice.

At the aforesaid moment, idiosyncratic noticed that a fewer scandalous French books — peculiarly Le Cadet by Jean Richepin — had been added to the LAPL collection. The books had been added astir a twelvemonth earlier, but the Los Angeles Examiner and spiritual figures began to question the morals of the room and its bold pistillate leader. (Kelso argued that not lone was the determination not straight her own, but besides she didn’t work French, and truthful was incapable to determine whether oregon not the publication should beryllium censored.)

Then 1 Sunday, Reverend J.W. Campbell led a supplication astatine the First Methodist Episcopal Church: “Oh lord vouchsafe thy redeeming grace to the librarian of the Los Angeles City Library and cleanse her of each misdeed and marque her a pistillate worthy of her office.”

This drew the attraction of galore spiritual figures who believed that definite scandalous books should beryllium burned, and it made an implicit tempest successful the press. Kelso decided she was nary longer playing around. She sued Campbell for $5,000 successful damages (nearly $169,000 today) for slander, arguing that her motivation quality was a cardinal qualification for being metropolis librarian, making his questioning of her morality an contented of defamation.

Campbell argued that supplication was exempt from this benignant of litigation due to the fact that “none should entity to being prayed for.” The lawsuit started receiving nationalist attraction arsenic a First Amendment question — connected 1 side, a connection to prohibition a publication from the library’s collection, and connected the other, the statement that supplication was privileged code and could not beryllium portion of litigation.

Despite blistery emotions and passionate diatribes, Kelso stayed calm passim the process. In March 1895, Kelso officially won retired erstwhile the religion settled and paid her ineligible fees. The statement that “prayer” was privileged code was officially rejected by the court.

Still, the property tempest had taken its toll. After the predetermination of 1894, a caller Republican politician was successful power, and helium had work astir the spending of the room and Kelso’s bold ideas. He ousted galore radical who had supported the room nether Kelso, and the caller Library Board enactment her and Hasse connected probation. When they turned successful their resignations successful protest, the committee asked them to reconsider and lifted the probation — lone to effort and trim their salaries a fewer months later. This time, Kelso and Hasse resigned for good.

After resigning, Kelso had thing lined up. She followed Hasse, who snapped up caller employment with the New York Public Library, to New York City. Kelso worked for Scribner’s Publishing and aboriginal successful the room section of Baker and Taylor.

Taking Down Dewey

Melvil Dewey whitethorn person created the Dewey Decimal System, founded the American Library Association, and advocated for women to beryllium permitted into the librarian vocation…but helium was thing but progressive. Among different things, Dewey had a wild history of intersexual harassment. He harassed his assistants Florence Woodworth and May Seymour for years, and harassed galore different women — including Hasse herself, who helium lured up to Albany with promises of talking astir a large caller task she was moving on.

Hasse would ne'er talk of it publicly, but it feels harmless to accidental that Kelso knew of his history, which seemed to person been an unfastened secret. She was inactive progressive successful the ALA, and inactive adjacent with Hasse, truthful she was witnesser to overmuch of the interaction of his atrocious behavior. In 1905, Dewey went connected a cruise to Alaska that included a large radical from the ALA, and nary less than four women came guardant accusing him of harassment afterward. A question roseate to censure Dewey astatine the 1906 ALA conference, and it was successful. Dewey, the organization’s laminitis and archetypal member, was ousted and unopen retired from the radical for the remainder of his life.

Unfortunately, arsenic we each know, canceling isn’t ever enough. Dewey was inactive doing good with the New York Library Association, and successful 1924, helium offered to big their yearly Library Week astatine his ain home.

Kelso wasn’t having it. She went consecutive to the NYLA committee and told them that if determination wasn’t an investigation, she would instrumentality the communicative of his harassment to the press. In a agelong hearing, they uncovered not lone the already unfastened concealed of his harassment of women who worked for him oregon who were conscionable successful the manufacture but besides that helium had harassed his ain daughter-in-law for years. The NYLA, cowed by the thought of the atrocious publicity they could face, declined Dewey’s offer, and did their champion to chopped ties altogether.

About the decision, Dewey wrote (all spelling errors his own): “It is truly pathetic erstwhile an unbalanst smoking drinking caracter tin stampede a batch of sensible people.”

Legacy

Kelso returned to California not agelong aft and passed distant connected August 13, 1933, successful Santa Barbara.

Memorials for her abound successful the librarian world. After her death, the Santa Barbara Public Library created a memorial postulation of books that belonged to her. The online assets that gives the nationalist entree to uncommon and humanities collections from Los Angeles Public Library is named TESSA, aft her. In 2017, she was named to the California Library Hall of Fame arsenic “an aboriginal manager of the Los Angeles Public Library and 1 of the profession’s astir progressive and influential pioneers.”

Kelso took connected the full room satellite with her pioneering ideas astir what nationalist libraries should be, and was consenting to bash immoderate she needed to bash to support libraries and the librarian assemblage adjacent and accessible for all. She’s a existent librarian pioneer, and I’m gladsome to present cognize her story.

Sources: “Tessa Kelso: Library Hall of Famer” by James Sherman (LAPL Blog, 2019) and “Tessa Kelso: Sinful City Librarian” by James Sherman (LAPL Blog, 2014); “Our Namesake: Tessa Kelso”; “Tessa Kelso: Unfinished Hero of Library Herstory” by Evelyn Geller (American Library Association, accessed via JStor); and “Tessa L. Kelso: A “New Woman” of Progressive Era Los Angeles” by Diane Christine Kavadas (accessed via ProQuest).

For much connected librarian history, dive into my communicative astir the Tougaloo Nine and their 1961 read-in that helped successful the combat to desegregate nationalist libraries, oregon work Anna Gooding-Call’s breakdown of the classism, intersexual misconduct, and racism of Melvil Dewey.

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