Yakima Valley Regional Libraries Plath Forum - 1987, tape 1A.
Date
1987
Authors
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Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
UNPUBLISHED
Abstract
Welcome from Richard Ostrander, and the first section of a talk by Dr. Spencer Shaw. When Information School Emeritus Professor Shaw retired, after 17 years on the UW faculty, the Information School (then the Graduate School of Library and Information Science) established the Spencer G. Shaw Honor Lecture Series. Every November, a leading figure in children's literature comes to the UW campus to speak to students, librarians, teachers and parents. As president of the senior class at Hampton University in Virginia, Shaw was invited to meet with school President Arthur Howe to discuss matters related to commencement. When asked what he wanted to do next. Shaw answered librarianship. Six weeks later, he received a Carnegie Corporation Fellowship specifically earmarked for African-Americans going into that field. During the summer of 1940, Shaw worked at the Keney branch of the Hartford Public Library as a prerequisite for his degree, and after he graduated in 1941, the library director invited him to become manager of that branch. “My appointment earned him an epithet from a colleague of a neighboring city, but he didn’t care,” Shaw recalls. “He wanted to break the color line.” From his work in the Brooklyn (N.Y.) Public Library (1949-1959) and the Nassau County (N.Y.) Library System (1959-1970), Shaw gained a reputation in library service for children and in storytelling, which led to workshop engagements, lectures and visiting professorships at colleges and universities: Queens College, Syracuse, Drexel, Kent State, Illinois, Wisconsin, Washington, Hawaii, North Carolina-Greensboro, North Texas and Pratt Institute. While in the Nassau system, for eight years he also hosted a weekly radio program, Story Hour on the Air--Let’s Go to the Library. International commitments in Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, England, the Netherlands, Cyprus, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Brazil strengthened Shaw’s advocacy of multiculturalism in children’s literature. UW Libraries Special Collections maintains a collection of Dr. Shaw's storytelling programs, course materials, lecture notes, correspondence, articles, awards, and other materials from the years 1949-2001. This collection also includes reel-to-reel audio tapes (1961-1968) of Shaw's radio program, Story Hour on the Air.
Description
Originally recorded on cassette tape, the audio has also been transferred to wav and mp3 formats. 32 minutes.
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Keywords
Speeches, Audio file, Library--Plath Forum