John Thomson (1835–1916)[1] was the first head librarian of the Free Library of Philadelphia.
John Thomson | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1835  |
| Died | 1916 (aged 80–81) |
| Occupation | Librarian |
| Known for | first head librarian of the Free Library of Philadelphia |
| Spouse(s) | Mary Ann Faulkner Thomson |
Thomson was born in Norfolk, England and attended St. Paul's School, London. He emigrated to the US in 1881.[2]
Before the Free Library of Philadelphia, Thomson was the private librarian of Jay Gould and Clarence H. Clark.[3]
When the library opened in March 1894, Thomson's mission statement was "Free Books for All".[4]
He compiled a bibliography of all the incunabula in the US and purchased a number of rare books for the library, including Walter Arthur Copinger's collection of 500 incunabula and fourteen Portuguese antiphonaries given to the College of Saint Jerome by King John III.[3]
He was married to Mary Ann Thomson (1834–1923), writer of Protestant hymns.[5] They had a dozen children.[6]
References
edit- ^ "LC Linked Data Service: Authorities and Vocabularies (Library of Congress)". id.loc.gov. The Library of Congress. Retrieved 2018-02-21.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ Public Libraries. Library Bureau. 1909.
- ^ a b Shaffer, Ellen (1970). "The Rare Book Department, Free Library of Philadelphia". The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America. 64 (1): 1–11. doi:10.1086/pbsa.64.1.24301791. hdl:2142/36960. JSTOR 24301791. S2CID 163504886.
- ^ S., Nelson, Sandra (2008). Strategic planning for results. Nelson, Sandra S., Public Library Association. (Fully rev. ed.). Chicago: American Library Association. p. 80. ISBN 9780838935736. OCLC 435528660.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "Mary Ann Thomson - Hymnary.org". hymnary.org. Retrieved 2018-02-21.
- ^ Buenting, Ruth M. (1999). Gloria! : letters from the hymnwriters. CSS Pub. p. 28. ISBN 9780788015267.