Arthur E. Bostwick

Arthur Elmore Bostwick (March 8, 1860 – February 13, 1942) was a United States librarian and author.

Early life

Arthur Elmore Bostwick was born on March 8, 1860, in Litchfield, Connecticut, to David Elmore Bostwick (1821–1872) and Adelaide McKinley (1830–1900). His paternal grandparents were Joel Bostwick and Nancy Stone. His father died when he was 12, and his mother supplemented the family income by various means to afford his education at Litchfield Institute, and later at Yale University, where he received his BA in 1881, and his PhD degree in 1883.

Career

After graduating from Yale, He taught high school in Montclair, New Jersey, for two years, before engaging in literary work on Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography, Appletons' Annual Cyclopædia and Funk & Wagnall's Standard Dictionary. With his cousin John D. Champlin, he edited a popular Young Folks' Cyclopedia of Games and Sports (1890).

He started his library career in 1895 as chief librarian at New York Free Circulating Library, where his former boss William W. Appleton (1845–1924) had founded and chaired the library committee. He viewed libraries as venues for popular education, in contrast with many librarians at that time, like John Shaw Billings, who viewed them as mainly for reference use. In 1899, he moved to the Brooklyn Public Library. He accomplished much, though civil service struggles persuaded him to move back to former position in 1901, and in a merger with New York Public Library he became chief of circulation, with Billings as director. Here too he accomplished a great deal, but struggles with Billings persuaded him to move on and accept the opportunity to head the Saint Louis Public Library in 1909.