American Public Library Service to the Immigrant Community, 1876-1948; a Biographical History of the Movement and its Leaders: Jane Maud Campbell (1869-1947), John Foster Carr (1869-1939), Eleanor (Edwards) Ledbetter (1870-1954), and Edna Phillips (1890-1

From 1876, when the American Library Association (ALA) was founded, through 1948, when the ALA Committee on Work with the Foreign Born disbanded, library service to the immigrant community was a central and continuing mission of the American public library as confirmed by the evidence gleaned from the annual reports for this period of twenty-one representative public library systems, which served significantly large foreign-born populations in nineteen cities and fifteen states in every census division of the continental United States.

Leadership within the library work with immigrants movement derived from the local, state, and national levels. Jane Maud Campbell, a cultural pluralist and immigrant herself, reflected the role of advocate for immigrants' rights during her career with immigrants (1903-22), principally as Director of Work with Foreigners of the Massachusetts Free Public Library Commission (MFPLC). John Foster Carr, an Anglo-conformist, reflected the role of propagandist for unrestricted immigration during his career with immigrants (1910-30) as Founder and Director the Immigrant Publication Society in New York. Eleanor (Edwards) Ledbetter, a cultural pluralist, reflected the role of social worker in her career with immigrants (1910-1938) as a public librarian in Ohio. Edna Phillips, an Anglo-conformist, reflected the role of adult educator in her career with immigrants (1923-48) as Campbell's successor with the MFPLC.

All four leaders were active in the ALA Committee on Work with the Foreign Born, which provided national coordination for the library work with immigrants movement from 1918 to 1948. Campbell and Carr led the movement during the period of mass immigration, prior to 1924, when Americanization was the sole goal. Ledbetter and Phillips led the movement after the implementation of the National Origins Act of 1924, when the emphases were shifted to internationalism and adult education.

From 1876 to 1948, the American public library and the library profession consistently provided the information, the personal attention, and the guidance, which immigrants needed to adjust, survive, and advance. The American public library thus empowered many immigrants to transform their individual American dreams into realities and potentialities.