The Keith Interim

Keith's administration, although brief, was scarcely a caretaker inerregnum, due, in part, to the impact of World War II. Four staff members entered the service. The Order Department lost contact with European and Japanese book agents although shipments of German periodicals arrived as late as June 1941. Shipments from England cost more because of war insurance and the Documents Department's accessions markedly increased.

In September 1942 the new Technological Institute was completed and a book collection of 25,000 volumes was established, consolidating the former chemistry, physics, and engineering departmental libraries. The combined Technological Institute Collection was another advance in the long-awaited process of centralizing the library's dispersed holdings.

In another significant development, the 15,000-item personal library of Franz Boas was purchased through the efforts of Professor Melville J. Herskovits, thus marking the beginnings of the library's Africana Collection.

As Keith's short tenure came to a close, the 1943 book appropriation of $56,800 had once again reached the pre-Depression amount.

From 1944 to 1947 Keith served as assistant librarian, and from 1947 to 1949 as a cataloging consultant, under Koch's successor Jens Nyholm. Upon her retirement in 1949, after 30 years at the library, she became assistant librarian of the Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, retiring again in 1967 at age 85.

Click here to read next section: Jens Nyholm.

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