SLIS Teaching Slides Collection

Back when the cataloging ("cat") lab actually contained cataloging materials and slideshows actually used slides, SLIS faculty made use of a collection of 35mm slides of library superstars for their lectures. This collection, after several years of obscurity in the remember-when-slides-were-nifty? cabinet, has recently seen its star rise in the form of a new digital collection.

The collection, under the imposing name Historic Librarians and Benefactors, can be found here: http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu/collections/SLISTeaching/HistLibrBen

In the collection, the shining lights of librarianship spring to life. Have you ever wondered what Melvil Dewey looked like pre- and post-beard?

The visage of the man who created the 

Dewey Decimal System, was an original 

member of ALA, and co-founded 

Library Journal. No big deal, right?

University of Wisconsin School of Library and Information Studies faculty and staff gathered this collection of teaching slides. It covers individuals from the late 19th and early 20th century, as well as some group shots of the American Library Association from 1887 and 1889. Which, like the one below, prove that librarians - then and now - are awesome.

American Library Association Excursion Party - Lookout Mt., May 1889