THE FIRST MEMBERS

The founding meeting of the Cincinnati Chapter of the Special Libraries Association took place on May 12, 1927. According to the secretary's account, a small group of special librarians met at the Procter & Gamble Company Library to discuss the desirability of forming a Special Libraries Association in Cincinnati. Before attempting to create a formal organization, they decided to contact other librarians with "several of the girls offering to get in touch with these persons and to ask them to attend the next meeting if interested in the plan." A second meeting took place on June 2 at the Cincinnati Business Women's Club and resulted in the election of officers from among the fifteen librarians attending.

The first President of the Cincinnati Chapter was Grace Stowell of the Procter & Gamble Library. E. Gertrude Avey, an employee of the Cincinnati Public Library, became the Secretary treasurer. Initially, the group did not strictly model itself after the national guidelines of the Special Libraries Association. Their proposed agendas were a combination of social and business meetings organized by the program and entertainment committees.

The group was aware of other similar associations with both national and state affiliations, but they were not officially in contact with any of these associations when they began to organize. At the June 28, 1927 meeting, the Cincinnati group discussed the Toronto chapter of SLA, which Elsie Schulze had visited. They also discussed how to determine an appropriate name for their new group. This meeting had eighteen in attendance. The first year there was a picnic in June, which became an annual event, and a Christmas party visiting the Charles P. Taft house. The group made note of some informative discussions that took place that year which included one on the making of the New York Times Index, reviewed by president Grace Stowell, and one on recommendations for the general usage and care of library cards.

This Cincinnati assembly of special librarians quickly began to broaden its membership, and in January 1928, plans were made to locate a wider range of Ohio librarians for the Ohio Library Association Conference being held in Cincinnati the following October. After further chapter recruitment, the office of Vice-president was formed in May 1929.

In the beginning, the members were all women and programs were held in conjunction with the Cincinnati Business and Professional Women's Club. The absence of males in the chapter was noted by the National Special Libraries president who visited Cincinnati in 1929. In a letter he sent following his stay, Mr. William Alcott of the Boston Globe "commented on the lack of men in the chapter" (chapter minutes, Sept. 24, 1929). Many male professionals, such as Mr. Sand of Sand Bindery and Mr. George McClelland of the Littleford-Nelson Business School, were invited to speak to the librarians about their areas of expertise. In 1930 Harry Pence, librarian at The Cincinnati Enquirer, was the first male librarian noted in the minutes. The minutes made reference to an article he had written about special libraries which was published in Cincinnatian Magazine (Appendix). The first year a man held an office for the Cincinnati chapter was in 1938 when Dr. Walter Rothman from Hebrew Union College served as president.

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