30 Facts About Melvil Dewey

Melville Louis Kossuth "Melvil" Dewey was an influential American librarian and educator, inventor of the Dewey Decimal system of library classification, a founder of the Lake Placid Club, and a chief librarian at Columbia University.

Melvil Dewey was a founding member of the American Library Association.

Melvil Dewey was born on December 10,1851, in Adams Center, New York, the fifth and last child of Joel and Eliza Greene Melvil Dewey.

Melvil Dewey attended rural schools and determined early on that his destiny was to reform education of the masses.

Melvil Dewey briefly attended Alfred University, then Amherst College, where he belonged to Delta Kappa Epsilon, and from which he earned a bachelor's degree in 1874 and a master's in 1877.

In 1895, Melvil Dewey founded the Lake Placid Club with his wife Annie.

Melvil Dewey became a member of the American Library Association's Hall of Fame in 1951.

Melvil Dewey died of a stroke in Lake Placid, Florida.

Melvil Dewey was a pioneer in American librarianship and an influential figure in the development of libraries in America in the late 19th and early 20th century.

Melvil Dewey is best known for the decimal classification system that many public and school libraries use.

In 1905, Melvil Dewey established the American Library Institute which was an organization conceived to provide for the investigation, study and discussion of issues within the field of library theory and practice.

Melvil Dewey worked out a new scheme that superimposed a system of decimal numbers on a structure of knowledge first outlined by Sir Francis Bacon.

In that preface, and in the following thirteen editions, Melvil Dewey cites the card system of Italian publisher Natale Battezzati as "the most fruitful source of ideas".

In 1876, Melvil Dewey moved to Boston, where he founded and became editor of The Library Journal, which became an influential factor in the development of libraries in America, and in the reform of their administration.

Melvil Dewey was one of the founders of the American Library Association, of which he was secretary from 1876 to 1891, and president in 1891 and 1893.

In 1883, Dewey replaced Beverly R Betts as librarian of Columbia College, and in the following year founded there the School of Library Economy, the first institution for the instruction of librarians ever organized.

However, at that point, Melvil Dewey, upon accepting a position with the New York State Library in Albany, successfully secured the agreement of its Regents to have the school transferred there.

Melvil Dewey petitioned the University of the State of New York, which granted degrees to those students who agreed to submit to examinations and produce a bibliography and thesis.

Melvil Dewey edited the Bureau's official publication, the Metric Bulletin, first issued in July 1876.

Late in his life Melvil Dewey helped found the Lake Placid Club as a health resort in New York state.

Melvil Dewey's theories of spelling reform found some local success at Lake Placid: there is an "Adirondak Loj" in the area, and dinner menus of the club used his reformed spelling.

Melvil Dewey was an early promoter of winter sports in Lake Placid and was active in arranging the 1932 Winter Olympics there.

Melvil Dewey was a founder of the Lake Placid Club Education Foundation in 1922.

Melvil Dewey was a founder of the Adirondack Music Festival in 1925, and served as a trustee of the Chautauqua Institution.

Melvil Dewey supported the idea of Lake Stearns in Florida formally changing its name to Lake Placid, Florida.

Melvil Dewey established a pattern of making powerful enemies early in life, and many of his friends found him difficult as well.

For decades, Dewey refused to stop his "unwelcome hugging, unwelcome touching, certainly unwelcome kissing" with female subordinates and others, according to biographer Wayne A Wiegand.

When Melvil Dewey opened his School of Library Economy at Columbia College to women, it was rumored that he asked for their bust sizes with their applications.

In 1929, Melvil Dewey settled out of court for $2,147 for a lawsuit brought by a former stenographer, whom he had kissed and caressed in public the previous summer.

Out of fear, Melvil Dewey bought the land adjacent to the Lake Placid Club to prevent Jews from purchasing it.