Gertrude Tressel Rider Harpham (April 22, 1876 — March 13, 1968) was an American librarian who specialized in building collections of braille materials, especially for blind disabled veterans, in the 1920s.
Early life
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Gertrude H. H. Tressel was from Alliance, Ohio, the daughter of Susanna Teegarden (née Hawkins) and Dr. John Harsh Tressel.[1] Her father was a medical doctor and Union veteran of the American Civil War.[2] She attended Mount Union College, where she studied music, and Bryn Mawr College, where she earned a bachelor's degree in 1902.
Career
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Gertrude Rider chaired the "Work with the Blind" committee of the American Library Association, and was the Librarian for the Blind at the Library of Congress from 1912 to 1925.[3][4] Overlapping that work, she was also National Director of Braille for the American Red Cross from 1923 to 1925, encouraging volunteers to learn how to hand-transcribe books into braille, and setting standards for that work.[5] Her particular interest was in meeting the literacy needs of blind disabled veterans of World War I, with braille materials and training.[6][7] She testified about the circulation of books for the blind in front of the Post Office and Post Roads Committee of the House of Representatives in 1922.[8]
Gertrude T. Rider studied blind education in Japan, including libraries, during a visit to that country in 1915, and published an article about that work in Outlook for the Blind.[9] Publications by Gertrude Rider included Braille Transcribing: A Manual (1925, in collaboration with Adelia M. Hoyt).
Personal life
editGertrude Tressel married twice. She wed Rev. Harold Milof Rider in 1902.[1] They had a son, Theodore Harold Rider (1903-1955), before Harold died in 1911. Her second husband was Fred Murcott Harpham; they married in 1925.[10] Because Fred Harpham was vice president of Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, Gertrude Harpham christened the ill-fated Goodyear Blimp "Columbia" in a 1931 ceremony, and was aboard for its maiden flight.[11]
Gertrude was widowed again when Fred Harpham died in 1934. In widowhood, Gertrude Harpham enjoyed traveling, including a 1947 trip to Guatemala and the Yucatán,[12] to South Africa in 1949,[13] and to India in 1950.[14][15] She also served a term as president of the Akron Garden Club, in 1949–1950.[16] She died in 1968, aged 91 years, in Lake Wales, Florida.[17] Records of Rider's work with the American Library Association are in that organization's archives at the University of Illinois.[18]
References
edit- ^ a b "Rider—Tressel" Baltimore Sun (October 10, 1902): 7. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "J. H. Tressel M. D." in Portrait and Biographical Record of Stark County, Ohio (Chapman Bros. 1892): 171-172.
- ^ "The Year in a Few Important Libraries" Library Journal (September 1916): 682.
- ^ "Work with the Blind" Bulletin of the American Library Association (1922): 220-223.
- ^ Frances A. Koestler, The Unseen Minority: A Social History of Blindness in the United States (American Foundation for the Blind 2004): 123. ISBN 9780891288961
- ^ "Delta Gammas in Who's Who for America", Anchora of Delta Gamma 61(2)(January 1945): 275.
- ^ Gertrude T. Rider, "Braille Books" Outlook for the Blind (Autumn 1919): 67-69.
- ^ "Statement of Mrs. Gertude T. Rider" Publications for the Blind: Hearings Before the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads of the House of Representatives, Sixty-Seventh Congress, Second Session, on the Bill H.R. 10496 (April 27, 1922): 10.
- ^ Gertrude T. Rider, "Some Notes on the Blind of Japan" Outlook for the Blind (Spring 1916): 10-16.
- ^ Untitled society item, Cincinnati Enquirer (October 4, 1925): 37. via Newspapers.com
- ^ Mark J. Price, "Local history: Thousands witness horrifying wreck of Goodyear blimp in 1932" Akron Beacon Journal (February 6, 2017).
- ^ Untitled society item, Akron Beacon Journal (April 6, 1947): 40. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Returns from Africa" Akron Beacon Journal (April 10, 1949): 57. via Newspapers.com
- ^ Untitled society item, Akron Beacon Journal (April 23, 1950): 62. via Newspapers.com
- ^ Bea Jay, "Trip to Africa Begins for Mrs. Fred Harpham" Akron Beacon Journal (December 9, 1948): 16. via Newspapers.com
- ^ Bea Jay, "Akron Garden Club Celebrates Birthday" Arkon Beacon Journal (November 4, 1949): 16. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Gertrude Harpham" Akron Beacon Journal (March 14, 1968): 51. via Newspapers.com
- ^ Lydia Tang, "Library Service for the Blind" American Library Association Archives (October 3, 2014).
External links
edit- Gertrude Tressel Rider Harpham's gravesite on Find a Grave.