Notable Veterinary Medical Librarians
Edith Clifford WILLIAMS (1885-1971)
- 22 years in veterinary librarianship
- First full-time veterinary medical librarian, Flower Veterinary Library, Cornell University, 1924-1946
Major Contributions to Veterinary Librarianship:
Edith Clifford Williams, known as Clifford by her preference, was hired as the first full-time librarian at the Flower Veterinary Library at Cornell University in 1924. Her appointment coincided with an increased appropriation designated for a full-time librarian and the completion of a building expansion that included more space for library purposes, such as an enlarged reading room and stacks. When the Library was named in 1897, Dr. James Law, the school’s founder and first dean, expressed the need for “a good library.” Prior to Miss Williams, the library had been under the direction of part-time individuals who had other responsibilities within the College. During the 22 years until her retirement in 1946, Clifford established a strong foundation for the Library that would serve it well in subsequent decades.
Although Clifford did not possess an academic degree or formal library training, she grew up in a prominent university-oriented Ithaca family. Her grandfather was a founding trustee of Cornell University and her father, Henry Shaler Williams, was a noted professor of geology and paleontology both at Yale and Cornell. As a result, Clifford likely possessed an understanding of research and scholarship as well as knowledge of the natural sciences that would have been helpful in overseeing the Veterinary Library. Interestingly, Professor Williams had wide ranging interests and published numerous papers, including some on comparative anatomy.
Annual Reports of the College during Miss Williams’ tenure speak of substantial development and increased use of the Library under her stewardship. In particular, the collection grew from about 7,300 volumes and 95 veterinary and medical journals to over 17,200 volumes and 148 periodicals during this period to become “probably the most complete veterinary library in the United States.”
Those reports also mention that a “full time librarian was employed who has given untiring service in classifying and cataloging books, periodicals, bulletins and reprints which has accumulated, and assisting students in learning to use a library.” For example, Clifford had successfully undertaken a complete inventory of the collection by 1928/1929 along with cataloging and binding all of the government documents, state extension publications, and other materials that had gathered since the Library’s founding in 1897.
As of 1934/1935, a report notes that: “The Flower Library has been of inestimable value to the College….the librarian, Miss E.C. Williams, has shown rare devotion to her work. She has spent and is spending far more of her time than could reasonably be expected of her in keeping the library open from early morning till late at night. She has exerted every effort to make it of maximum usefulness. As a result, the library has come to be used more and more, not only by our own faculty and students, but also by those of other colleges [at Cornell].”
In addition to organizing the collection, reports further indicate that she was capable and effective in continuing to help faculty and students as well as in extending services to veterinary practitioners in New York. For example, “the librarian is willing and anxious to teach students how to find references and look up the literature on any subject.” Furthermore, “a full time, efficient librarian has increased greatly the use of books and periodicals by students and it is anticipated that they will become a source of much assistance to the practitioners of the State.” The Flower Veterinary Library’s materials “are also used by the entire university, the physicians and surgeons of the community and other libraries all over the United States and Canada by inter-library loans.”
Under her direction, cooperative services extended access to materials outside the growing library collection. By 1942/1943, the Flower Library had “very satisfactory loan arrangements” and was actively borrowing materials from the Surgeon General’s Army Medical Library in Washington, DC and the Library of the New York Academy of Medicine in New York City to provide ready access to medical literature for faculty, students, and research workers.
From 1925 until just after her retirement, “home use” of materials grew from 1,209 to 4,057 items by 1947/1948. Moreover, attendance increased from 3,100 in 1929 when counts began to nearly 13,780 in 1947/1948.
Within several years of her appointment, use and functions of the library had grown to such an extent that an assistant was needed to help Miss Williams with her increasing work load. Thus, at the beginning of the 1929/1930 academic year, Mrs. Samuel H. Burnett, known as “Nellie,” the wife of a veterinary faculty member, was hired on a half-time basis. Nellie had graduated from Cornell in 1895 and possessed an excellent knowledge of Greek, Latin, and German that proved helpful in providing translations of scientific works and in doing literature-based research. When Nellie left in July, 1943, it is known that Miss Williams was sufficiently upset at not being able to find a qualified replacement that Clifford’s brother, Roger, wrote a letter to then Dean William Hagan without her knowledge.
After her retirement became effective on July 1, 1946, the following appeared in the College’s Annual Report for 1945/1946: “Miss Williams’ resignation was accepted with great regret since she had been an efficient, untiring worker whose ambition was to make the library of the greatest possible use to students and staff of the institution. In this she had succeeded to the satisfaction of all. She retired with the affection and gratitude of the staff.”
Clearly, as the first full-time librarian, Edith Clifford Williams contributed significantly by establishing a strong foundation upon which the Flower Library and the Veterinary College at Cornell could depend as expansion continued in years to come. By 1944/1945, “under the capable direction of Miss E.C. Williams, the library has been built up both in content and variety of services.”
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ADDENDUM:
In addition to being a competent librarian, Miss Williams’ involvement with the avant-garde art movement in New York City early in the twentieth century is worth noting. Clifford’s father had been supportive of her enrollment at Yale’s School of the Fine Arts in 1903 and encouraged her to study painting in Paris in 1906. One of her 1916 paintings titled, Two Rhythms, is permanently displayed in The Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Her abstract art and sculpture also connected her with Alfred Stieglitz, the noted photographer, and his associated group of artists.
Of further interest is Miss Williams’ life-long friendship and correspondence with Hu Shi (1891-1962), the “father of the Chinese Renaissance” and Chinese Ambassador to the U.S. from 1938 to 1942. They met when he was a graduate student at Cornell in 1914. Recently uncovered correspondence between Clifford and Hu in Beijing indicates that Clifford may have had an influence on Hu’s thinking with respect to making vernacular speech acceptable for written communication in China and establishing a framework of China’s modern educational system. Those same letters also document communication with the wife of Hu’s friend and mentor at Columbia University, Professor John Dewey, the noted educator and creator of the Dewey Decimal classification system.
Tributes and Recollections from Friends and Colleagues:
Ellis P. Leonard, DVM (COR ’34) worked in the Flower Veterinary Library as a student assistant under Miss Williams. Quote from: In the James Law Tradition 1908-1948. p. 261.
“On February 25th, 1924, the College was fortunate in obtaining the services of a full-time librarian. Miss E. Clifford Williams was a petite lady with impeccable manners who spoke only the ‘King’s English.’ It was she who established a well-organized library.”
Other Publications and Resources:
Leonard EP. A Cornell heritage: veterinary medicine 1868-1908. Ithaca, NY: New York State College of Veterinary Medicine; 1979. p. 210-22.
Leonard EP. In the James Law tradition 1908-1948. Ithaca, NY: New York State College of Veterinary Medicine; 1982. p. 261-2.
Reports of the New York State Veterinary College at Cornell University for the years 1921/1922 through 1947/1948.
Roberts SJ. Veterinary College news. Veterinary News (New York State Veterinary Medical Society). 1946 Jun-Jul;9(4):16,20.
Sisler CU. Henry Shaler Williams. In: Enterprising families: Ithaca, New York: their houses and businesses. Ithaca, NY: Enterprise Publishing; 1986. p. 42-3.
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ADDENDUM:
Egan SC. Research Notes: Painting signs, Demuth’s portrait of Charles Duncan. American Art. 2008 fall;22(3):90-101.
Egan SC, Chou CP. A pragmatist and his free spirit: the half-century romance of Hu Shi & Edith Clifford Williams. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press; 2009. p. 95, 177.