Carrie Westlake Whitney

Carrie Westlake Whitney (1854 – April 8, 1934) was an American librarian. Known as the mother of Kansas City. Missouri's library system, she was the first director of the Kansas City Public Library.[1][2] She moved to Kansas City and worked as a bookkeeper, renting a room from James Greenwood, the Kansas City superintendent.[3] Greenwood hired her in 1861 when the library was still a subscription library, calling her "the smartest woman I have ever known."[3]

Carrie Westlake Whitney
Born1854
Fayette County, Virginia
DiedApril 8, 1934
Kansas City, Missouri
Other namesCarrie Westlake Judson
Occupationlibrarian

By 1897, Whitney had fully ended the library's subscription model, and all city residents were allowed access to the library.[2] The collection, which was described as "2,000 catalogued books, plus about a thousand volumes of government documents, reports, and periodicals," was enlarged to 30,000 items by 1897.[2] By 1899, the solo library had grown to include a staff of 28 adults and nine young male pages.[2] In 1901, she was elected to be the first president of the Missouri Library Association.[2][4]

Whitney had strong opinions about reading, including keeping reading for younger people tightly controlled claiming, "One unwholesome book will contaminate an entire school."[2]

In 1908, she published a three-volume history entitled Kansas City, Missouri: Its History and its People which included biographies of notable local people as well as a history of the city.[2] She was demoted from her position to assistant librarian in 1910 with The Kansas City Journal saying her position should be held by a man, an opinion supported by the local Board of Education.[2][4] She was replaced by Purd Wright—who had come back to Missouri after one year at the head of Los Angeles Public Library—and was terminated in 1912.[2][5]

Personal life

Carrie Westlake was born in 1854 in Fayette County, Virginia, to Wellington and Helen Van Waters Westlake. In 1861, her family moved to Pettis County Missouri near Sedalia.[2] In 1875, she married E. W. Judson in Sedalia. In 1885, she married newspaperman James Steele Whitney; he died in 1890.[1] She spent the last four decades of her life living with Miss Frances Bishop, whom her obituary described as an "inseparable friend."[4]

Carrie Whitney died on April 8, 1934, and is buried in the Forest Hill Cemetery in Kansas City, Missouri.[6]

References
  1. "Carrie Westlake Whitney is Dead". The Sedalia Democrat. April 9, 1934. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
  2. Christian, Shirley (May 26, 2010). "Carrie Westlake Whitney". Kansas City Library. The Woman's City Club Foundation. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  3. "Carrie Westlake Whitney". SqueezeBoxCity. 2014-12-27. Retrieved 2019-12-06.
  4. "Mother, May I... Check Out This Book?". KC History. 1934-04-08. Retrieved 2019-12-06.
  5. "KCPL Timeline". Kansas City Public Library. 2019-11-14. Retrieved 2019-12-06.
  6. "Find a Grave". Carrie Westlake Whitney. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
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