Frank Kellogg Walter:
Cornerstone of the University library
With the arrival of Frank Kellogg Walter, the University
Library passed from its troubled childhood into hopeful
adolescence. Under his direction, it matured into one
of the nation's great research libraries. But the journey
wasn't easy.
After languishing during the University's early days,
the library seemed to be gaining momentum when Walter
became its custodian in 1921. His predecessor, James
Gerould, had nearly doubled the size of its collection,
and the Minnesota legislature had finally appropriated
$1.25 million for the construction of a new University
library building.
Upon his arrival at the University, Walter helped plan
the new facility, which earned universal praise for
its elegance and efficiency when it opened on October
31, 1924.
With the new building, the University centralized the
various library units and assigned control of the entire
system to Walter. Although that move eventually strengthened
the library and improved service, some faculty objected
to having the books removed from departmental control.
“A distinguished man in physics rushed angrily away
to another assignment, protesting that since his books
had been stolen away from him and secreted in the central
library, all his activities had become paralyzed,” wrote
James Gray in his 1951 history of the University.
"In the modern scheme of education, the university
library is primarily a central service station of the
entire university,” Walter said. Determined to improve
the library's services, he launched a wide range of
new projects, including the installation of a bindery
to expedite book repair. More than 200,000 volumes were
rehabilitated and restored to usefulness.
Walter also taught library science and, with the help
of reference librarian Ina Firkins, organized a series
of courses on library methods. In 1928, he established
the University's Library School and served as its director.
Nine years later, in 1937, he inaugurated a course for
hospital librarians, the first of its kind in the nation.
He is best known, however, for developing the University
of Minnesota Library into a premier research library.
Under his stewardship, holdings quadrupled from 300,000
items to more than 1.3 million, and the library rose
in rank from twelfth to sixth among North American university
libraries. At one point, personnel from the Works Progress
Administration were recruited to help catalog the rapidly
growing collection.
"Walter was a bibliophile of the faith's most advanced
order,” wrote Gray. “The passion [to collect books]
was upon him day and night, and wherever he paused in
the course of the day became a place to seek treasure.
His desk was piled high with books, books crowded his
shelves and drifted like autumn leaves across his floor."
Walter died in 1945 at age 71, only two years after
retiring as University librarian. In 1959, the Main
Library building was renamed Walter Library in his honor.
At the end of his career, Walter must have regarded
his achievements with keen satisfaction. Library use
was at an all-time high, and the library's collection
was burgeoning. In one of his final reports as University
librarian, he noted with pleasure that undergraduates
properly appreciated the library's services.
But in a more circumspect way, the report offers a
telling clue about Walter and his choice of a profession.
In it he relates a brief anecdote about an ancient Egyptian
king who had the words “dispensary of the soul” inscribed
above his beloved library. No doubt Walter felt a strong
kinship with the ancient monarch, for whom the library
was not a museum but rather a dynamic force that buoyed
the human spirit.
Or, as Walter was fond of saying, “Books are bought
for use, not as keepsakes."
