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Mary J. L. Black

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Mary Johanna Louisa Black
Mary J. L. Black c. 1921
Born(1879-04-01)April 1, 1879
Uxbridge, Ontario
DiedJanuary 4, 1939(1939-01-04) (aged 59)
Vancouver, British Columbia
NationalityCanadian
OccupationLibrarian

Mary Johanna Louisa Black (1879-1939), or Mary J. L. Black as she is often known, was a Canadian librarian and suffragist. Black was the president of the Ontario Library Association from 1917 to 1918 and was a member of the American Library Association.

Early life

Mary Johanna Louisa Black was born on April 1, 1879 in Uxbridge, Ontario to parents Fergus Black and Georgina Elizabeth Macdonald. Mary had four brothers. In September 1907, several years after the death of her mother, Mary and her father relocated to Fort William, Ontario to live with Mary's brother, Davidson William.[1]

Career

Despite her lack of formal education, Black was appointed Chief Librarian of the Fort William Public Library in 1909. She was the first librarian there.[2] When Black began working at the library, it was a single room in the City Hall basement. In 1912, with funding from the Carnegie Family, the Fort William Public Library opened the Carnegie Library, since renamed the Brodie Resource Library.[3] As part of her work as Chief Librarian, Black organized the first mobile library collections in Ontario and was a proponent the rights of rural citizens to access public libraries.[3][4]

In 1913, Black became a councillor of the Ontario Library Association.[1] Black later served as president of the Ontario Library Association from 1917 to 1918.[5] She was the first woman to be appointed to that position.[6]

In 1918, Black was elected a school trustee. She was re-elected to the same position in 1920. Black supported Robert James Manion across party lines when he sough federal election in 1917 as a Unionist and in 1921 when Manion ran as a conservative.[1]

Black was a member of the American Library Association, which, at the time, represented both Canadian and American libraries. She held several positions there including being a member of the extension board, being the chair of the Small Libraries Round Table, and being the chair of the lending section.[5] From 1918 to 1932, Black was actively involved with the Thunder Bay Historical Society. Her involvement included serving as secretary-treasurer and maintaining the archives. Black was the society's president from 1928 to 1932.[1]

Black, John Ridington, and George H. Locke were hired by the Carnegie corporation to form a commission of inquiry into the conditions of Canadian public libraries. Black toured Canada with her fellow commissioners, beginning in 1930, to investigate the libraries across the country.[7] The commission concluded in 1933 with the publication of Libraries in Canada: A Study of Library Conditions and Needs.[8][9][10]

Black, along with Dr. Clara Todson and Anne J. Barrie, co-led the women's suffrage and reform movement in the twin cities of Port Arthur and Fort William, which were later almagameted into Thunder Bay.[11] From 1916 to 1918, Black was the president of the Fort William branch of the Women's Canadian Club which she also founded.[6] Black was also a member of the West Algoma Equal Suffrage Association and the Women's Business Club, the latter of which she was the president of in 1921.[1] Black was also the district commissioner for the Girl Guides of Canada.[3]

Black was forced to retire from the Fort William Library in the spring of 1937 due to illness.[12][13]

Death and legacy

Due to her ill health, in late 1938, Black relocated to Vancouver, British Columbia to stay with her brother, Norman F. Black.[14] She died in Vancouver on January 4, 1939.[5]

In 1938, a branch of the Thunder Bay Public Library in Thunder Bay, Ontario was dedicated the Mary J. L. Black Library.[3][15] The Mary J. L. Black Library was renovated in 2010 with estimated costs around four million dollars.[5] In 2018, the Ontario Library Association posthumously recognized Black's achievements with a plaque at the Thunder Bay Public Library.[16]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Brent Scollie, Frederick (2017). "Biography – BLACK, MARY JOHANNA LOUISA". Dictionary of Canadian Biography: Volume XVI (1931-1940). Retrieved May 25, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ "Improving lives: the history of the Thunder Bay Public Library". CBC News. March 4, 2020. Retrieved May 25, 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. ^ a b c d "Mary J. L. Black". City of Thunder Bay. June 14, 2016. Retrieved May 29, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. ^ Bruce, Lorne D. (2019). "From Library Work to Library Science: Forming Canadian Librarianship, 1920-1960". The Canadian Journal of Library and Information Practice and Research. 14: 14. doi:10.21083/partnership.v14i1.4752.
  5. ^ a b c d "Mary Johanna Louisa Black". Ex Libris Association. 2018. Retrieved May 25, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ^ a b "Mary J.L. Black, 1879-1937 (~1921)". Thunder Bay Public Library - Gateway to Northwestern Ontario History. Retrieved May 25, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. ^ Bruce, Lorne (1994). Free Books for All: The Public Library Movement in Ontario, 1850-1930. Dundurn. p. 245. ISBN 1-55002-205-9. Retrieved May 29, 2020 – via url.
  8. ^ "Experiments in Rural Libraries Nearing a Close". Brandon Daily Sun. November 6, 1935. p. 11. Retrieved May 29, 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. ^ "Winnipeg Aldermen Are Flayed By Commission On Library Conditions". Winnipeg Free Press. March 11, 1933. p. 1. Retrieved May 30, 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. ^ Peel, Bruce (1982). "LIBRARIANSHIP IN CANADA BEFORE 1952". Archivaria. 15: 81.
  11. ^ Brookfield, Tarah (2018). Our voices must be heard : women and the vote in Ontario. UBC Press. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-7748-6019-2. OCLC 1101773705. Retrieved May 25, 2020 – via Google Books.
  12. ^ "Who Was Mary J.L. Black". Thunder Bay Public Library - Gateway to Northwestern Ontario History. Retrieved May 25, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  13. ^ Bruce, Lorne D. (2010). "Depression and Survival, 1930-39". Places to Grow: Public Libraries and Communities in Ontario, 1930-2000. University of Waterloo. p. 54. Retrieved May 29, 2020 – via Google Books.
  14. ^ "Ontario Librarian Dies At Vancouver". Lethbridge Herald. January 5, 1939. p. 8. Retrieved May 30, 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  15. ^ Bruce, Lorne D. (2010). "Depression and Survival, 1930-39". Places to Grow: Public Libraries and Communities in Ontario, 1930-2000. University of Waterloo. p. 40. Retrieved May 29, 2020 – via Google Books.
  16. ^ "Library award honours Mary J.L. Black". Thunder Bay News Watch. February 12, 2018. Retrieved May 29, 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
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