First among Equals: Caroline M. Hewins and Anne C. Moore. Foundations of Library Work with Children

Set against the background of public library development, this study maintains that two women, Caroline Maria Hewins (1846-1926) and Anne Carroll Moore (1871-1961) were first among equals: they were the main leaders in a group of like-minded children's library women who adopted the service philosophy of the American Library Association and created and institutionalized library work with children as it still exists today.

A background survey of the relevant children's library developments up to 1906 describes school and Sunday school libraries, the founding of the American Library Association (ALA), the formation of the ALA Section of Children's Librarians and the education and training of children's librarians, including the Training School for Children's Librarians at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, all phenomena which, the study concludes, contributed to the organization of children's library service during the 1890s.

The professional lives and the contributions of the two main leaders, Hewins and her protegee Moore, are described in detail in the period between 1876 and 1929. Aside from biographical information, the study examines their professional positions, their writing, and their influence. The study shows that Hewins' and Moore's contributions to the development of library work with children survived due to their energetic and long service and their prolific writing and that Moore survived as the only remembered leader of all of the women because of her creative personality.

Profiled also are eight women who shared the two leaders' work and social milieu. They were selected in part due to their writing, their library positions, their birth and death dates and the availability of information about them. Biographical sketches are provided of these early children's library women: Minerva Sanders, Lutie Stearns, Mary Dousman, Alice Jordan, Clara Hunt, Frances Olcott, Effie Power, and Caroline Burnite.

A profile of all women concludes that significant similarities existed in their personal backgrounds, professional positions, mentors, and the extension of their work through teaching, writing and other activities. The study makes extensive use of primary material culled from holdings held by individuals and special collections.