This series contains materials dealing with John B. Kaiser's work with the Alumni Advisory Committee of the Columbia University School of Library Service. The period covered is between the years 1946 and 1959. However, since Kaiser did most of his work in this connection between 1952 and 1957, the bulk of the papers fall between these years.
The Alumni Advisory Committee was organized in 1952. It was a committee of five appointed by the New York State Library Association executive committee to serve as a two-way channel between the alumni group of the Albany Library School (1887-1926) and the Graduate School of Library Service of Columbia University, founded in 1926. Its first five members (its membership would vary in later years) were: Alice Jewett, Librarian, Mt. Vernon Public Library; Flora B. Ludington, Librarian, Mt. Vernon Public Library; Paul North Rice, New York Public Library; John S. Richards, Librarian, Seattle Public Library; and John Boynton Kaiser, Librarian, Newark Public Library, and Chairman of the Committee.
The papers contained in Series IV relate to Kaiser's work with the Alumni Advisory Committee and his long affiliation with the School of Library Service of Columbia University. The Series consists of Polders I-XX in two boxes. It can generally be divided into three main types of papers: correspondence, 7 folders; professional papers, 12 folders; pamphlets and memorabilia, 1 folder.
The overall arrangement is a chronological one, since a good deal of the papers are correspondence with Committee members and other professional people in many different libraries, papers that are relevant to a particular year's correspondence are in a folder adjacent to that correspondence! It seemed important to keep the order a chronological one in order to follow logically the activities of the Alumni Advisory Committee and its resulting accomplishments. And to some extent the order is a classified one in that events revolving around a particular activity take place in rapid succession within a limited period of time.
Much of the work of the Alumni Advisory Committee in the mid-50's involved preparation for an accreditation survey of the School of Library Service conducted by the American Library Association. By keeping the papers in their natural order, one can see the progress the Committee made towards the survey, beginning with the formation of a Survey Advisory Committee and ending with the completed report of the American Library Association and the accreditation.
Following is a listing of Folders 1-20 and their contents. The one exception is item 17, which is a black binder too large to be in a folder. It is numbered so as to keep the papers in their natural order in the box. A complete list of correspondents would be enormous and of little use. For a listing of the most important of Kaiser's correspondents, see Series III.
Box 6 Folder 1
Correspondence, 1946-1948
1 piece 1946 correspondence to Dean Carl M. White; 6 pieces correspondence, 4/14/1947-1/22/1948. Concerning proposals for S. L. S. program
In chronological order.
Box 6 Folder 2
3 issues of Personnel Reporter, 10/30/1948, 12/7/1948, 1/28/1949
Mimeographed sheets. An interoffice publication of Newark public Library.
In chronological order.
Box 6 Folder 3
Papers and correspondence relating to the Alumni Association dinner in Atlantic City, June 17, 1948
Includes program, lists of officers and directors of the Alumni Association, miscellaneous handwritten notes, May 1948 copy of Library Service News.
Box 6 Folder 4
Correspondence, 1/7/1953 - 12/30/1953
Kaiser as Chairman of the Alumni Advisory Committee. Pertains to plans for a survey of placement practices at S.L.S.
In chronological order.
Box 6 Folder 5
Other papers involving A.A.C. activities, 1953
Includes results of the placement survey, memoranda on A.A.C. meetings, miscellaneous handwritten notes, post card responses.
Box 6 Folder 6
Correspondence, 1/4/1954 - 12/21/1954
Kaiser as Chairman of A.A.C.
In chronological order.
Box 6 Folder 7
Other papers involving A.A.C. activities, 1954
Includes minutes of meetings, membership lists, memoranda.
Box 6 Folder 8
Papers specifically relating to proposed survey of S.L. S. for A.L.A. accreditation, 1954
Final copy and rough draft of suggested questions for the survey.
Box 6 Folder 9
Correspondence, 2/25/1955 - 12/15/1955
Kaiser as Chairman of A.A.C. Beginnings of the Survey Advisory Committee to supervise the A.L.A, survey.
In chronological order.
Box 6 Folder 10
Other papers involving A.A.C. activities, 1955
Includes a news release on gifts to S.L.S., memoranda on proposed A.L.A. survey.
Box 6 Folder 11
Correspondence, 1/3/1956 - 12/21/1956
Kaiser as Chairman of A.A.C. Relates to A.L.A. survey, getting relevant materials together, plus usual A.A.C. activity.
In chronological order.
Box 6 Folder 12
Working papers relating to preparation for the A.L.A. survey, 1956
Memoranda on objectives and general pattern of the S.L. S. program. Revision of the S.L.S. program.
Box 6 Folder 13
Correspondence, 1/2/1957 - 12/12/1957
Kaiser as Chairman of A.A, C. Relating to the A.L.A. survey, preparation and discussion of results.
In chronological order.
Box 6 Folder 14
Correspondence and papers, 1952-1957
Correspondence and papers compiled in 1957 on the origins of the Alumni Advisory Committee with cumulation of minutes of all meetings, 1952-1957, and lists of all members, 1952-1957
Box 6 Folder 15
Other papers, 1957
5 pieces only. Miscellaneous.
Box 6 Folder 16
Exhibits used in A.L.A. accreditation survey, 1957
Includes memoranda, 2 S.L.S. Bulletins, 1956-1958, papers reflecting general activities, conditions, recent changes at S.L.S. just prior to 1957. Copy of Statement of Interpretation to accompany Standards for Accreditation adopted by A.L.A. April 1952.
Box 6 Folder 17
Black binder: Library School Report Form, April 10, 1957
Includes various forms filled out by S.L.S. faculty and administration and returned to A.L.A. along with other exhibits (see Folder 16).
Box 6 Folder 18
Final report on Accreditation of Columbia University School of Library Service, issued by A.L.A., August 1957
Summary report, preliminary results of the survey, A.L.A. summation and vote of accreditation.
Box 6 Folder 19
Correspondence, 1958-1959
6 pieces. Miscellaneous.
Arranged chronologically.
Box 6 Folder 20
Pamphlets and Memorabilia, 1948-1957
3 miscellaneous newspaper clippings; menu from Curtis Hotel in Minneapolis, 6/20/1954; 1 pamphlet on revision of S.L.S. program, 1948-1949; 3 copies of S.L.S. Bulletin, 1952-1953, 1954-1955, 1956-1957; 2 reports of Dean Carl White on S.L. S., 1954 and 1967; 1 copy of Bulletin of New York Library Club, 2/1948; 3 issues of Library Service News, 5/1948, 12/1954, 6/1955; 3 Bicentennial publications (1754-1954) relating to S.L.S.