Walter Lichtenstein

Upon Ambrose's departure, Dr. Walter Lichtenstein (Ph.D. Harvard, 1907) was appointed university librarian on August 7, 1908. Lichtenstein had been curator of the Hohenzollern Collection of German history at Harvard, earning a reputation as an outstanding bibliographer. Lichtenstein was given an appointment as a professor in the College of Liberal Arts.

Lichtenstein quickly concurred with Ambrose's contention that the Lunt Library had become badly overcrowded and was poorly funded. The collection was weak in many areas. Due to a chronic lack of staff, only 30,000 volumes of the 70,000-volume collection were classified. In 10 years Lichtenstein increased the staff from eight to 15 and cataloged the 40,000-volume arrearage, making it possible to call for the books by number rather than by complete author and title. A shelf list was completed and the first inventory taken (927 volumes were missing). The library benefited from Lichtenstein's reorganization of staff and library procedures, and the reference and bibliographic collections were substantially improved. A union catalog of 1 million cards, predecessor of the present book catalogs, greatly facilitated processing.

A significant administrative change occurred in 1912 when the university statutes were revised so as to detach the library from the control of the College of Liberal Arts and to constitute it as a library to serve the needs of the College of Engineering and the Schools of Music and Commerce, as well as the Evanston Academy and the College of Liberal Arts.

Moreover, a bridge was established to the libraries of the professional schools on the Chicago campus, in that they were directed to submit annual reports for inclusion in the President's Report. Thus, for the first time it became feasible to assemble data on the combined holdings of all Northwestern's libraries.

The death in 1912 of Daniel Bonbright, who had been chairman of the Library Committee since 1876, ushered in a new era in the administration of library affairs. Until that time the Library Committee had exercised a great deal of control over all aspects of the library's administration and policies; henceforth, its powers were reduced to those of an advisory body. The university librarian now assumed major responsibility for the purchase of books.

Although Lichtenstein was able to convince the administration of the benefits of a centralized library as opposed to the maintenance of separate departmental libraries, nothing could be done at this time since there was little hope of securing a new building in which the eight libraries could be consolidated. Control over these poorly organized collections remained marginal. By establishing a recurring library book fund account, Lichtenstein was able, from 1909 to 1918, to utilize $30,000 which otherwise would have been lost for library use under the old system. On behalf of the university he went on a book-buying trip to Europe in 1911 and spent 2 years, 1913 to 1915, in South America on a similar mission in cooperation with Harvard University, the John Crerar Library, the John Carter Brown Library, and the American Antiquarian Society. Northwestern's share of the latter purchases appreciably strengthened the collections in South American literature and history.

The need for additional space occupied much of Lichtenstein's time, but the university could neither afford a new building nor extend the old one. However, to alleviate the most pressing space problems, more rooms in Lunt were converted to library use and, in 1917, the collections of Greek and Latin were stored. Although enrollment remained relatively stable, annual library circulation doubled from 45,000 in 1908 to 96,000 in 1918. Students and faculty both complained that often all seats, including space on the stairways, window ledges, and floors were filled. In the course of Lichtenstein's 10 years as librarian the stack collection increased from 75,000 to 116,000 volumes, while the number of government publications grew from 50,000 to 85,000. The library's problems were further increased during World War I when both salaries and book funds were cut and, to conserve fuel, library hours were reduced from 84 to 65 per week.

In 1918 the strong anti-German sentiment manifest throughout the country precipitated the dismissals of several university professors of German nationality as well as those interested in the German language and culture. At Northwestern, Lichtenstein and a member of the German department faculty fell victim to the war- induced hysteria. After his summary dismissal as librarian, Lichtenstein went to work at the First National Bank of Chicago, became an expert on international banking, and eventually became the bank's vice-president. He founded the bank's library. Upon retiring in 1945 he assumed charge of the Financial Institutions Division, under the command of General Lucius Clay, of the U.S. Military Government of Germany. In 1947 he joined the management of the International Harvester Company as a consultant. In 1954 he again retired and moved to Cambridge where he was appointed honorary curator of Harvard University Library, a position he held until his death in 1963 at the age of 83.

Following Lichtenstein's departure, Assistant Librarian Eleanor Falley was appointed acting librarian. Falley had graduated with a B.S. from Northwestern in 1905 and, after taking summer courses at the Library School of the University of Chicago, joined the staff as a cataloger in September. She became assistant librarian in 1913. She served a acting librarian for 1 year, resigning in 1919 to become librarian of Goucher College in Baltimore.

Click here to read next section: Theodore Wesley Koch and the Charles Deering Library.

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