Irrepressible Reformer: A Biography of Melvil Dewey

Contents: Part One Launching a "world work", 1851-1888 Child of the burned over district, 1851-1876 R" on a cufflink: early years "Filling the vessel": Amherst College "In proper order": assistant librarian, Amherst College Creating bureaus and organizations, 1876-1879 "Dui" in business for himself, 1879-1883 The readers and writers economy company The library bureau "To ride a fast or frisky horse": Columbia College, 1883-1888 Librarian-in-chief A bootleg operation: the school of library economy An opposition forms Other interests, 1883-1888 Part Two The Albany years, 1889-1906 Jockeying for position: Regents' secretary, 1889-1892 Entering a glass house with a plan Moving to implement an agenda Moving the university "out of innocuous desuetude", 1892-1898 The University Law of 1892 and its impact Challenges to Dewey's power Overplaying politics, 1898-1899 Pressure to unify Dewey's resignation as Regents' secretary Attending to library matters, 1889-1904 Managing the New York State Library The New York Library School Unification Working with the American Library Association, 1889-1904 Other interests, 1889-1910 The Library Bureau Metric and spelling reform The Lake Placid Club "Jew Attack", 1905 Disgraced and banished for his sins: Dewey's downfall, 1905-1906 Resignation -- "The fairchild-lord plot" Part Three The Lake Placid years, 1906-1931 Building an efficient WASP's nest, 1906-1925 "Wheels within wheels": Expanding the physical plant and debt Club successes and the Lake Placid Education Foundation Trouble in paradise, 1926-1931 Lake Placid Club North v. South "Fyt to the limit": The battle between North and South continues Epilogue Legacy of a hero and a villain.