Idaho Library Association Records

Idaho Library Association Records, 1915-1988

Overview of the Collection

Creator: Idaho Library Association
Title: Idaho Library Association Records
Dates: 1915-1988 (inclusive)
19151988
Quantity: 10 cubic feet
Collection Number: MG029 (collection)
Summary: Correspondence of officers, minutes of executive committee meetings, financial records, correspondence and other records of the various divisions and committees, and correspondence and other papers concerning the journal Idaho Librarian (1960-1986).
Repository: University of Idaho Library, Special Collections and Archives
Special Collections and Archives
University of Idaho Library
875 Perimeter Drive
MS 2350
Moscow, ID
83844-2350
Telephone: 2088850845
libspec@uidaho.edu
Languages: English
Sponsor: Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Historical NoteReturn to Top

The Idaho State Library Association was organized on December 29, 1915, at a meeting called by Margaret Roberts, librarian of the Free Traveling Library Commission of Idaho. The meeting was held in the Boise High School and was timed to coincide with the State Teachers Association meeting. About a dozen librarians attended the meeting and elected Gretchen L. Smith of Idaho Technical Institute in Pocatello as their first president. The first constitution stated the object of the association was "to promote the library interests of the state of Idaho."

Traveling in Idaho was difficult, distances were great and roads were not the best, and it was a rare conference when all officers of the organization could attend. In fact, in 1924 and 1928 no officers attended the annual conference. About 1926 it was decided to hold the conference every other year, alternating with district conferences. This practice continued through 1959 when annual conferences were again held.

The years from its founding to World War II were ones of patience and persistence on the part of Idaho's librarians. In spite of low funding, a disinterested population, and travel difficulties the association managed to survive. Although it was unable to operate during the war the situation improved with the war's end. When the association was reactivated it began publishing a journal, Idaho Librarian, whose first issue appeared in April 1945, and the association was also invited to become a chapter of the American Library Association.

The Idaho State Library Association was reorganized in November 1950, and the constitution revised in May 1951. The changed included separating the jobs of secretary and treasurer, they had been combined since 1919, designating the vice president as president elect, adding the PNLA representative and the ALA counselor to the executive board and forming the Membership, Legislative, Library Development, and Publication committees. Dues were set in graduated levels ranging from $1.00 to $3.00.

In 1953 the association was successful in obtaining passage of a bill replacing the three member State Library Commission, all elected officials with other full-time jobs, with a State Library Board consisting of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction and three members appointed by the Governor.

In 1955 a constitutional revision added the editor of the Idaho Librarian to the Executive Board as a nonvoting member and added two more standing committees, Public Relations and School Libraries which later, in 1958, became a division rather than a committee.

In 1962 the association changed its name to the Idaho Library Association and on September 23, 1969 became an incorporated organization.

From its original membership of 13 individuals and one institution (Boise Carnegie Library), the ILA, according to 1988 figures, has grown to 450 individual and 27 institutional members.

Content DescriptionReturn to Top

The records of the Idaho Library Association span the years 1915 to 1988, with the bulk of the material covering the years 1948 to 1986.

The records include correspondence of the officers, minutes of executive board meetings, constitutions, bylaws, procedure manuals, cash books, budgets, financial reports and annual reports of various divisions and committees, as well as committee correspondence. There are also programs for annual conferences, correspondence relating to the planning of the conferences, and tape recordings of some conference proceedings. Finally the records contain correspondence and other material relating to the publication Idaho Librarian and some issues of the journal, both microfilm and paper copies. Although the archival holdings are not complete the Special Collections Library has a complete set of the journal.

Missing from the collection are the financial records from 1975/76 to 1977/78.

Mary Hemingway, widow of Ernest Hemingway, was asked to address the 1968 convention but due to previous commitments she declined. Her letter to President Edward Linkhart concludes, "Anyhow, I don't know anything about libraries." This letter is found with the 1968 speaker correspondence.

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Arrangement

Since material in this record group was received at so many different times and was in no particular order it was decided to organize the whole group by function, first separating the material that could be identified as being the papers of a particular officer, then the records relating to divisions and committees, and finally records relating to the Idaho Librarian. Some early records were bound and these, unless relating to a committee, were placed with the secretary's records.

The President's correspondence is arranged chronologically by person holding the office.

The Secretary's Records, 1915-1986, contain the minute books, bound records of the association from 1948 to 1963, the organizational records (bylaws, constitutions, etc.), manuals, correspondence of the executive board, and membership lists. Each type of material is arranged chronologically.

Records of the Treasurer, 1916-1988, include cash books, budgets, financial reports, material relating to two Association for the Humanities in Idaho grants, tax information and correspondence. Although check registers were, as a rule, not retained those for 1980 to 1984 were kept since there are no other records for that period.

Another group of records relates to the various Divisions, Committees and Liaison Areas, 1957-1988. Included are annual reports of the committees as presented at the annual meeting, and records of the individual groups. For ease of filing and retrieval the committees are in alphabetical order, with papers in each folder arranged chronologically. Although the School Library Division became the Educational Media Section in 1985 this change is not reflected in the filing. Likewise when the College, University and Special Library Division became the Academic and Special Libraries Division no change was made in the filing.

The records of the Library Development Committee include the ACONDA (A Codification of New Directions for the Association) report, the Baillie Report on Regional Planning, and a revision of the interlibrary loan procedures.

It was not until 1963 that the Public Relations Committee was put in charge of National Library Week, but to maintain continuity all NLW material was placed with the records of this committee

Material relating to the Annual Conferences, 1924-1988, includes programs, correspondence related to planning, including correspondence with speakers, some tape recordings of speeches and videocassettes of Richard Etulain's speech "Roles of Women in Western Literature" from the 1984 conference.

Records relating to the Idaho Librarian, 1960-1988, include correspondence, financial records, mailing records and plans for issues, including some paste-ups and advertising copy.

The published issues of Idaho Librarian in the archives are not complete. Since, for the sake of continuity of location, all future issues of the journal will continue to be added to this manuscript group, this series is the only one which remains open.

Acquisition Information

The records of the Idaho Library Association were deposited in the University of Idaho Library, the designated repository of all ILA records, at various times through 1988.

Processing Note

The cash books give a detailed financial account of the association, therefore it was decided to discard all canceled checks, bank statements, and check registers, with the exception of the check registers for the years 1980 to 1984 where these are the only available records. Also discarded were invoices, receipts, duplicate deposit slips, ALA mimeographed material, duplicate copies of manuals, programs, and other print or near print material. Many recent accessions consisted of one or two folders which were placed in half-Hollinger boxes and counted as 0.5 cubic feet for statistical purposes. Through the combined processes of discarding, refoldering and reboxing the material was reduced by 10 cubic feet.

Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top

Series I. President's Correspondence , 1919-1986Return to Top

Container(s)	Description	Dates
Box/Folder
1/1	Belle Sweet 2 items	1919-1920
1/2	Eli Obler 55 items	1950-1953
1/3-4	Blanche Kurtz 82 items	1960-1961
1/5-6	Dorothy Kiesz 194 items	1963-1964
1/7-8	Alice Dunlap 135 items	1964-1965
1/9	Charles Webbert 58 items	1965-1966
1/10	Frances Lamb 57 items	1966-1967
1/11	Edward Linkhart 22 items	1967-1968
1/12	Richard Beck 89 items	1968-1969
1/13	Mary Faith Bollinger 48 items	1969-1970
1/14	Gaylin Fuller 38 items	1970-1971
1/15	Other Library Associations 51 items	1970-1972
1/16	Rex White 161 items	1971-1972
1/17	Mabelle Wallan 85 items	1972-1973
1/18	Peter Ahlstrom 129 items	1972-1974
1/19	Marguerite Laughlin 16 items	1974-1975
1/20	Dianna Hull 74 items	1975-1976
1/21	Milo Nelson, William Wilson, Jeanne Goodrich 64 items	1977-1979
1/22	John Fogarty Case 19 items	1978-1979
1/23	Gerry Jacobs 66 items	1970-1980
1/24	Helen Rambo 64 items	1980-1981
1/25	Sam Sayre 60 items	1981-1982
1/26	John Hartung 70 items	1982-1983
1/27	Anna Green 49 items	1983-1984
1/28	Jerry Glenn 7 items	1984
1/29	Janet Strong 53 items	1985-1986

Series II. Secretary's Records , 1915-1986Return to Top

Container(s)	Description	Dates
	A. Bound Volumes	1915-1963
Box/Folder
1/30	Minute Book 1 item	1915-1946
1/31	Minutes of Meetings 1 item	1948-1956
2/32	Correspondence 1 item	1926-1948
2/33	Correspondence and Miscellany 1 item	1948-1956
2/34	Correspondence and Records 1 item	1956-1957
2/35	Correspondence and Records 1 item	1957-1958
2/36	Correspondence and Records 1 item	1958-1959
2/37	Correspondence and Records 1 item	1959-1960
2/38	Correspondence and Records 1 item	1960-1961
2/39	Correspondence and Records 1 item	1961-1962
3/40-41	Correspondence and Records 2 items	1962-1963
	B. Unbound Records	1937-1986
Box/Folder
3/42	Articles of Incorporation 17 items	1968-1970
3/43	Constitutions and Bylaws 12 items	1937-1964
3/44	Organization of the Idaho Library Association 1 item	undated
3/45-58	Executive Board Correspondence 229 items	1961-1986
3/59	Executive Board. List of Officers 1 item	1951/1952-1964/1965
3/60-61	Executive Board. Minutes of Meetings 105 items	1960-1985
3/62-63	Membership Lists 34 items	1947-1977
3/64-71	Procedure Manual/Handbook 10 items	1961-1984
3/72	Secretary's Correspondence 20 items	1966-1983
3/73	Idaho State Library Legislative Publications 4 items	1962-1972
3/74	ALA and PNLA Membership Cards 5 items	1966-1982
3/75	Proclamations 6 items	1957-1986
3/76	Negative for special membership certificate 1 item	undated
os/77	Scrapbook	1951-1958

Series III. Treasurer's Records , 1916-1988Return to Top

Container(s)	Description	Dates
Box/Folder
3/78	Cash Book 1 item	1916-5/28/1957
3/79	Cash Book 1 item	6/28/1957 - 3/24/1966
4/80	Cash Book 1 item	4/5/1966 - 5/18/1970
os/81	Cash Book 1 item	6/l/1970 - 5/31/1972
os/82	Cash Book 1 item	6/2/1972 - 6/24/1975
os/83	Cash Book 1 item	8/24/1978 - 12/23/1982
4/84	Check Registers 2 items	June 1980-December 1984
4/85	Savings Records 2 items	1980-1985
4/86	Audits 7 items	1959-1980
4/87	Budgets and Proposed Budgets 26 items	1962/1963-1983
4/88	Financial Reports 100 items	1948-1988
4/89	Membership Reports & Forms 30 items	1951-1988
4/90	Association for the Humanities in Idaho. Grant 337L, Intellectual Freedom and Censorship in Idaho's Libraries 6 items	1982
4/91	Association for the Humanities in Idaho, Grant 468 LLP, Western Literature 28 items	1984.
4/92	Robert S. Bohrer Grant 3 items	1972
4/93-100	Treasurer's Correspondence 562 items	1958-1985
4/101	Idaho State Library	30
4/102	Procedures and Notes 4 items	undated
4/103	Scholarships 25 items	1966-1973
4/104	Tax Exemption Application 17 items	1968-1970
4/105	Taxes, Insurance, Agreements, etc. 33 items	1969-1984

Series IV. Divisions, Committees, Liaison Areas , 1957-1988Return to Top

Container(s)	Description	Dates
Box/Folder
4/106-110	Annual Reports, Original 64 items	1965-1986
4/111-112	Annual Reports; Printed 18 items	1962/1963-1983/1984
4/113-117	General Correspondence about Committees 159 items	1963-1979
4/118-11;	College, University, and Special Libraries Division 67 items	1965-1988
4/120-123	Public Libraries Division 204 items	1964-1980
5/124	School Library Division Minutes 16 items	1958-1971
5/125	School Library Division Workshops 8 items	1966-1968
5/126-129	School Library Division Correspondence 191 items	1957-1985
5/130-132	Trustees and Friends Division 126 items	1960-1986
5/133	Awards Committee 19 items	1969-1984
5/134	Audio-Visual Committee 1 item	1976
5/135	Bibliography Committee 5 items	1976-1984
5/136	Certification and Standards Committee 2 items	1964
5/137	Committee on Committees 1 item	1976
5/138-139	Constitution and Manual Committee 22 items	1961-1972
5/140	Convention Site Committee 3 items	1964
5/141	Federal Relations Coordinator 61 items	1964-1972
5/142	Index Committee (Idaho Librarian) 7 items	1963-1964
5/143-145	Intellectual Freedom Committee 120 items	1963-1983
5/146	Intellectual Freedom Committee. John Fogarty 23 items	1978
5/147-150	Legislative Committee 18 items	1962-1987
5/151-155	Library Development Committee 344 items	1965-1972
5/156	Library Development Committee. ACONDA 5 items	1971
5/157-158	Library Development Committee. Regional Planning 64 items	1969-1979
5/159	Library Development Committee. Interlibrary Loan Revision 45 items	1980-1982
6/160-162	Library Education Committee 231 items	1960-1977
6/163	Library History Committee 1 item	1964
6/164	Membership Committee 14 items	1962-1965
6/165-168	Nominating Committee 164 items	1963-1984
6/169-176	Public Relations/National Library Week 327 items	1957-1986
6/177-178	Publications Committee 65 items	1969-1986
6/180	Recruitment Committee 69 items	1963-1965
6/181-183	Scholarship Committee 120 items	1963-1967
6/184-185	Scholarship and Recruitment Committee 121 items	1967-1979
6/186	Social Responsibility Committee 3 items	1971-1972
6/187	Title III Advisory Council (Library Cooperation) 42 items	1969-1970
6/188-190	ALA Councilor 88 items	1964-1986
6/191	PNLA Representative 29 items	1964-1985
6/192	Department of Education Representative 2 items	1973

Series V. Conferences , 1924-1988Return to Top

Container(s)	Description	Dates
	A. Annual Conferences	1924-1988
Box/Folder
6/193-194	Printed Programs for Conferences 27 items	1924-1986
6/195	1960, McCall. Proceedings (Bound) 1 item	1960
6/196	1961, Sun Valley 3 items	1960-1961
6/197	1962, McCall 113 items	1961-1962
7/198	1963, Sun Valley 84 items	1962-1963
7/199-200	1964, McCall 152 items	1963-1964
7/201-202	19659 Sun Valley 141 items	1964-1965
7/203	1966, Lewiston 86 items	1964-1966
7/204	1967, Tri-State Convention, Jackson, Wyoming 24 items	1965-1968
7/205	1968, Twin Falls 69 items	1966-1968
7/206-207	1969, McCall 92 items	1968-1969
7/208	1970, Burley 140 items	1969-1970
7/209	1971, Boise 23 items	1970-1971
7/210	1972, McCall 48 items	1971-1972
7/211	1973, Boise 21 items	1972-1973
7/212-213	1974, Boise 98 items	1974
7/214	1975, Coeur d'Alene 4 items	1974-1975
7/215	1976, Burley 14 items	1975-1976
7/216	1977, Boise 8 items	1975-1977
7/217	1978, Sun Valley 26 items	1978
7/218-219	1978, Pocatello 93 items	1977-1979
7/220	1980, Moscow 54 items	1979-1980
7/221	1981, Boise 85 items	1980-1981
7/222	1982, Sun Valley 108 items	1981-1982
7/223	1983, Coeur d'Alene 77 items	1982-1983
7/224	1984, Sun Valley 39 items	1984
7/225	1985, Boise 77 items	1985
7/226	1986, Coeur d'Alene 81 items	1985-1986
8/227	1987, Sun Valley 54 items	1986-1987
8/228	1988, Boise 7 items	1987-1988
	B. Annual Conference Audio Visual Material	1967-1984
Box/Folder
8/229	7" reel to reel tape recording 1 item	1967-1968
8/230	Public Library Division Meeting (5" reel to reel) 1 item	1969
8/231-233	7" reel to reel 3 items	1970
8/234-236	7" reel to reel 3 items	1972
8/237-239	Cassette recording 3 items	1973
8/240	Thursday Evening, Friday Noon (7" reel to reel) 1 item	1974
8/241	School Division Meeting, Ruth Seydel (cassette) 1 item	1974
8/242	Trustee Division, Bill Roden, Barbara Hume (cassette) 1 item	1974
8/243	College, University & Special Libraries meeting, Richard Dougherty (cassette) 1 item	1974
8/244	E. Landau (cassette) 1 item	1976
8/245-246	Richard Etulain "Roles of Women in Western Literature" videocassette 2 items	1984
8/247	unidentified. 3" reel labeled Master 1 item
	C. Other Conferences	1958-1980
Box/Folder
8/248	Governor's Conference on Libraries 34 items	1960-1980
8/249	State Library Planning Committee 5 items	1958
8/250	Conference on Interlibrary Cooperation 1 item	1967
8/251	Tri-State Workshop 16 items	1969
8/252	McCall Seminar 7 items	1969
8/253	ILA Planning Conference 1 item	1970

Series VI. Idaho Librarian, Correspondence and Planning , 1960-1986Return to Top

Container(s)	Description	Dates
Box/Folder
8/254-258	Correspondence 390 items	1967-1986
8/259	Advertising Correspondence 81 items	1980-1986
8/260	Business Correspondence 20 items	1980-1982
8/261	Steve Hall Book Review Correspondence 19 items	1984
8/262	Keith Petersen Column Correspondence 17 items	1983-1984
8/263	Review Copies & Book Reviews Correspondence 129 items	1980-1986
8/264	Subscription Correspondence 28 items	1981-1982
9/265	Financial Records 2 items	1960/1961; 1981/1982
9/266	Budget and Finances 56 items	1982-1986
9/267	Printer Bids 8 items	1982-1984
9/268	Sample Copies Sent 8 items	1984-1986
9/269	Single Issue Sales 17 items	1982-1985
9/269	Post Office Mailing Records	1980-1986
9/270	Instructions and Correspondence 26 items	1980-1986
9/271	Second Class Mailing Forms 22 items	1981-1986
9/272	Ownership, Management & Circulation Statement 6 items	1981-1986
9/273	Instructions to Authors 1 item	undated
9/274	University Microfilms Royalty Statements 9 items	1980-1985
9/275	Congressional Information Service Microfiche 10 items	1982-1985
9/276	Reader Survey 5 items	1981
9/277	Other Journal's Surveys 7 items	1981-1985
Box
9	Plans for Individual Issues
Box/Folder
9/278	36 items	January 1981
9/279	26 items	April 1981
9/280	32 items	July 1981
9/281	32 items	October 1981
9/282	24 items	January 1982
9/283	15 items	April 1982
9/284	24 items	July 1982
9/285	52 items	October 1982
9/286	65 items	January 1983
9/287	48 items	April 1983
9/288	43 items	July 1983
9/289	40 items	October 1983
9/290	34 items	January 1985
9/291	30 items	April 1985
9/292	38 items	July 1985
9/293	26 items	October 1985
9/294	39 items	January 1986
9/295	29 items	April 1986
9/296	32 items	July 1986
9/297	9 items	October 1986

Series VII. Other Records, undated-1987 Return to Top

Container(s)	Description	Dates
Box/Folder
9/298	Idaho Book Award Design 1 item	1984
9/299	Patent Search Workshop 23 items	1984
9/300	Recruitment brochures, Other brochures and forms 8 items	undated
9/301	Purple Press (a publication of the Legislative Committee)\ 13 items	1986-1987

Series VIII. Publications , 1945-1989Return to Top

Container(s)	Description	Dates
Box/Folder
10/A	Idaho Local History; a bibliography with a checklist of library holdings. Ed. Milo G. Nelson & Charles A. Webbert for the Idaho Library Association. University Press of Idaho, Moscow	1976.
10/B	Idaho Librarian (microfilm copy)
Box
10	v.1-12	April 1945-October 1960
10	v.13-20	January 1961-October 1968
10	v.21 no.1-4	January-October 1969
10	v.22 no.1-4	January-October 1970
10	v.23 no.1-4	January-October 1971
10	v.26 no.1-4	January-October 1974
10	v.27 no.1-4	January-October 1975
10	v.30 no.1-4	January-October 1978
Box/Folder
10/C	Idaho Librarian (paper copy)
Box
10	v.10 no.1-4	January-October 1958
10	v.11 no.1,2,4	January, April, October 1959
10	v.12 no.2-4	April-October 1960
10	v.13 no.2	April 1961
10	v.14 no.2,4	April, October 1962
10	v.15 no.1,4	January, October 1963
10	v.18 no.1	January 1966
10	v.22-23	January 1970-October 1971
10	v.24-25	January 1972-October 1973
10	v.26 no.1,3,4	January, July, October 1974
10	v.27 no.1-4	January-October 1975
10	v.28 no.1-4	January-October 1976
10	v.29 no.2,3	April, July 1977
10	v.30 no.3	July 1978
10	v.31 no.1-2	January-April 1979
10	v.32 no.1-2	January-April 1980
10	v.33 no.1,3	January, July 1981
10	v.34 no.1-3	January-July 1982
10	v.35 no.1-4	January-October 1983
10	v.36 no.1-3	January-July 1984
10	v.37 no.1-3	January-July 1986
10	v.38 no.1-4	January-October 1987
10	v.39 no.1-4	January-October 1988
10	v.41 no.1-2	January-April 1989

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

Library science--Societies, etc.--Idaho--History--Sources

Corporate Names

Idaho Library Association--Records

Titles within the Collection

Idaho librarian

Archives West Finding Aid

Table of Contents