Chapter 15. Lawrence Quincy Mumford Goes to Washington

In July of 1954, Mr. Mumford announced that he had been nominated by Senator Bricker, the Senior Senator from Ohio to fill the position of Librarian of Congress, that President Eisenhower had submitted his name to the United Stares Senate for confirmation, and that the Senate had approved his appointment unanimously. He added that he was to leave for his new position in the nation’s capital in September. Although we were all saddened at the thought of losing him as our Director, we were glad that he had been tapped to head the great Library of Congress, which was not only the nation’s largest and most prestigious library but also most respected among the world’s national libraries! Mr. Mumford also advised us that he would be resigning his position as Director of the Cleveland Public Library as of August 13, for a brief vacation before going to the Library of Congress.

Mr. Mumford did not forget his promise that I would not be kept indefinitely in the Book Repair Division. On August 1, 1954, I was promoted to the position of Assistant Department Head. This brought me back to the Main Library as Assistant Head of the Main Library, where I was to share the responsibility of supervising the services of the Library’s twelve public service or subject divisions, the Newspaper Division and the Municipal Reference Library located in the Cleveland City Hall, with Emelia Wefel, who was the Head of the Department and who had been one of my mentors.

I had spent three years and three months behind the scenes as Chief of the Book Repair Division. I must confess that I had come to like its work and challenges. It gave me an experience that made me a better librarian and helped to prepare me for future and more important assignments that came my way later on.

Before they left for Washington, D.C., the staff of the Cleveland Public Library held a farewell reception for Quincy and Pamela Mumford at the Hotel Cleveland. It was a grand occasion that generated mixed feelings. On the one hand, we were all happy for the Mumfords, for the great future that lay ahead of them in the nation’s capital. On the other hand, we felt a great sense of loss.

During the course of the reception, Mr. Mumford took me aside for a private conversation. He was brief and to the point as always. He said, “Eddie, I know that we have just promoted you to join Miss Wefel as Assistant Head of the Main Library, however, I have been thinking that I would like to have you come to join me at the Library of Congress as soon as possible. I would like to have you as an assistant there.” I felt like the floor could have opened up and swallowed me at that moment. Never in my wildest dreams had I ever thought that I would ever be offered the chance to
work in the greatest library in the world!” He must have seen that I was in shock, and quickly added, “talk this over with Grace and let me have your answer before Pam and I leave for Washington next week!” I thanked him for his kind offer and hastily retreated to find Grace in the crowded ballroom.

On the way home that evening, I told Grace about the offer. She was speechless for a moment. However, she said, “I’ll go along with whatever you decide. You have to decide. It is your professional future.” For a couple of days we went back and forth on the thought of pulling up our roots and moving to Washington. We had only been in our new home two years. We considered the children’s ages. Edward was almost six and Paul was not quite two years old. We asked ourselves was it fair to uproot them at this time. I kept asking myself, would it be fair to leave Cleveland Public Library so soon after my promotion, and to leave it after it had been so good to me, since it had given me my first job during the depression, since it had helped me work my way through junior high, high school, college and Graduate Library School.

Grace and I considered the pros and cons. The idea of going to work at the Library of Congress was so tempting. We both recalled our wonderful honeymoon in Washington, D.C. Our marriage had begun there so happily. On the other hand, I was about to start my job as the second in command of the prestigious Main Library of the second largest public library in the nation, sharing that responsibility with Emelia E. Wefel, the person that I considered to be the Dean of Librarians in the State of Ohio at the time. Grace and I thought about our families. There were Grace’s widowed mother and younger sister and brother. There were my elderly mother and father and brothers. Grace and I shared the responsibility of looking to the financial and physical needs of our parents with our siblings. We all lived in close proximity to be able to help our parents in time of need.

As was my custom, I sought father’s advice, as I had done in the past about career decisions. This time, he surprised me. He was reluctant to influence my decision one way or the other. He merely said, “this is a decision you are going to have to make on your own.” This time there was no wise lead or suggestion that was going to help me make up my mind. I sensed that he was remembering his father’s strong opposition to his own decision to leave the family to come to the United States so many years ago. Father, I felt was making sure that I did not receive the slightest inkling that he did not want me to leave home. He made sure of that when he finally said, “you will have my blessing whatever course you take.” Mother on the other hand, made it clear that she wanted me to stay home. No if ands or buts!

In the end, my loyalty to the Cleveland Public Library became the deciding factor. Before Mr. Mumford left for Washington, D.C., Edwin Colburn, the Head of the Processing Department, with whom I had worked as Chief of the Book Repair Division, and who also had become one of Mr. Mumford’s closest top level administrators announced that he too was resigning to take the position of Chief of Indexing Services at the Wilson Company. Ed’s departure was scheduled during the 07month following that of Mr. Mumford. It occurred to me that if I were also to leave the Library, there would be no one there who had had any experience in the handling of book binding specifications, bidding process and contracts, which had always been a vital and very sensitive part of the Library’s activities. Since Marjorie Ramisch, a Branch Librarian had just recently succeeded me as Head of the Book Repair Division was going to be needing guidance and help in those areas
of expertise, she and the Library would be severely handicapped if both Ed Colburn and I were not around to assist in such matters. The Cleveland Public Library meant too much to me to leave at that time. So, I decided to stay put in Cleveland!