Ruth Savord

Catherine Ruth Savord (2 November 1894 – 25 February 1966) was a librarian and the author of several books and articles on library work. She served as the first Chief Librarian of the Frick Art Reference Library.

Ruth Savord
Savord’s passport application photograph
Born(1894-11-02)November 2, 1894
Sandusky, Ohio
DiedFebruary 25, 1966(1966-02-25) (aged 71)
Arizona
NationalityAmerican
Alma materCase Western Reserve University
Occupationauthor, librarian
EmployerCouncil on Foreign Relations

Education

Savord graduated from Sandusky High School and the school of Library Science at Case Western University in Cleveland. She was also enrolled at the University of Illinois, where she held a position in the Catalog Department of the university library.

Career

Savord began her career in approximately 1910, when she became an apprentice at the Sandusky Library. After her graduation from Case Western University, she worked in the Catalog Department of the Cleveland Public Library. During World War I, she relocated to New York City and worked for the Western Union Telegraph Company; after the war, she was employed by the Newark Public Library.[1]

Savord assisted Helen Clay Frick in organizing the Frick Art Reference Library, an institution dedicated to serving the art and art history research community, which Miss Frick had founded in 1920 as a memorial to her father, the collector Henry Clay Frick. Savord had been recommended by a close friend, and Miss Frick was impressed by Savord's "excellent mind," work ethic, and sense of humor.[2] In the first entry in the library's diary, dated Monday, 8 November 1920, a note in longhand records that "Ruth Savord began work as a librarian ... She and Miss Frick began cutting up a few things on hand and working out forms, etc." — a reference to the Library's early collection of study images, many of which were removed from pamphlets and catalogs.[3] Early in 1921, Savord accompanied Miss Frick on a six-week research trip to London where they studied the famous photograph collection of the British art historian Sir Robert Witt in his library at 32 Portman Square. On their return, Savord developed a cataloging system for the Frick Art Reference Library's growing collection of study images, which involved the adaption of principles ordinarily applied to books, and launched two initiatives: the development of a book collection and a program to photograph works of art in private collections, objects that were little known to the scholarly community.[4] Savord also assisted in developing the staff of the Library and acquiring rare sales catalogs, a collection that has become one of the largest of its kind in the United States.[5]

Savord left her position at the Frick Art Reference Library in 1924 to assist in the reorganization of the library of the General Education Board. After holding positions with the International Education Board as well as the advertising firm Batten, Barton, Durstine and Osborn, Savord extended her field into international relations and actively contributed to the organization of the library of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City. She served as the institution's Librarian from 1932 to about 1962. Her work for the Council led to the compilation of a directory on international affairs, her first major publication.[6]

She served as the President of the Special Libraries Association from 1934 to 1935,[7] heading the SLA’s "Constitution Revision Committee" as Special Chairman.[8]

In regard to her field, she noted that special librarianship "offers an outlet ... for the one whose primary interest is in people, in new and interesting contacts, and in books as tools; for the one with the sleuthing instinct for the obscure or the not-yet-in-print information which is demanded today by our highly competitive world. It is not for the one seeking a quiet atmosphere of repose; nor for the one who is interested primarily in increasing the desire to read and in fostering the cultural side of life."[9]

Publications

Articles

Books

Pamphlets

Reports

  • Report on the Development of Education in International Relations in the United States: Submitted to the League of Nations Section of Intellectual Cooperation, May 1932. 1932.

References
  1. The Sandusky Register, March 27, 1932, p. 5.
  2. Knox, Katharine McCook (1979). The Story of the Frick Art Reference Library: The Early Years. New York: The Library, p. 16.
  3. The New York Times (1990). "Frick Art Reference Library is Obliged to Seek Funds." December 30.
  4. Knox (1979), p. 19.
  5. Brill News (2012). "Brill Will Digitize Art Sales Catalogues from the Frick Art Reference Library in New York." March 20. News. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
  6. "Miss Ruth Savord, Noted Librarian, Dies in West." The Sandusky Register, February 28, 1966, p. 6.
  7. "List of Past Presidents." Special Libraries Association, 2015. Archived from the original. Retrieved March 10, 2015.
  8. "SLA National Officers, Chapter Presidents, Group and Committee Chairmen and Special Representatives, 1948-1949." Special Libraries Journal, Vol. 39, No. 7, September 1948, p. 240. Full issue available.
  9. Savord, Ruth. Special Librarianship as a Career. New London: Institute of Women's Professional Relations, 1942, pp. 3-4.
  10. Langer, William L. Review of Directory of American Agencies Concerned with the Study of International Affairs, by Ruth Savord. Foreign Affairs, Vol. 9, No. 4, July 1931, p. 688. Council on Foreign Relations. doi:10.2307/20030398.
    "A brief but comprehensive and well-balanced handbook."
  11. Review of Directory of American Agencies Concerned with the Study of International Affairs, compiled Ruth Savord. International Affairs, Vol. 10, No. 3, May 1931, pp. 393–394. doi:10.2307/3016185
  12. C. Review of American Agencies Interested in International Affairs, by Ruth Savord. International Affairs, Vol. 32, No. 2, April 1956, p. 402. Published by the Royal Institute of International Affairs. doi:10.2307/2625933
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