Missouri Library Association, Papers, 1900-1994 (C0515)
32.2 linear feet, Microfilm
INTRODUCTION
The organizational records of the Missouri Library Association consist of by-laws and constitutions, correspondence, financial and membership records including account books, journals and ledgers, handbooks, miscellaneous newsletters and other publications, minutes and reports, newspaper clippings, promotional materials, programs, resolutions, photographs, and scrapbooks.
DONOR INFORMATION
Sharon O. Willis, as president of the Missouri Library Association, donated the association’s papers to the University of Missouri on April 1, 1976 (Accession No. 4000). Subsequent additions were made on December 9, 1976 (Accession No. 4032), February 7, 1977 (Accession No. 4045), May 29, 1979 (Accession No. 4230), September 23, 1983 (Accession No. 4534), August 30, 1985 (Accession No. 4665), and January 13, 1995 (Accession No. 5506). Ellis Library transferred association papers on August 7, 1978 (Accession No. 4186) and the State Historical Society of Missouri transferred association papers on June 15, 1981 (Accession No. 4346).
ORGANIZATIONAL SKETCH
The Missouri Library Association was founded in 1900 to expand library service and promote professional development of librarians in Missouri. The MLA directed much of its energy during the first half of the century toward lobbying for library related legislation. Major results included the establishment of the State Library Commission in 1907 and the 1947 creation of the Missouri State Library.
As the century waxed, MLA's organizational structure expanded and evolved, as did its goals. The 1930s through the 1950s saw
the birth and consolidation of various divisions; the 1960s saw a growing trend toward formation of special round tables and committees to address particular library services and professional concerns of librarians. In 1940 MLA began publication of its official journal, the MLA Quarterly.
The end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s witnessed additional changes. Besides the establishment of a permanent office and the hiring of an executive secretary, the organization spawned subsidiary groups to address certain social concerns: censorship, children's services, prison services, and women's rights among others. The MLA Quarterly ceased publication in 1969 and was replaced by the MLA Newsletter. The MLA also served as the focal point for the formation of a new Missouri library network.
In 1987 the Missouri Association of School Libraries, perhaps the most autonomous of the Missouri Library Association’s subsidiaries, seceded from the Missouri Library Association and returned to its former independent status.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
The records contain scant materials from the first four decades of the twentieth century. From the late 1940s through the 1960s the volume gradually increases, until the 1970s when the bulk of the collection makes its appearance. Coverage of the 1980s and 1990s is sporadic.
Consistency and completeness of the records vary from one unit of the association or subject file to the next, depending upon the amount of activities in an area or the individual unit's proclivity for record keeping. The bulk of the records relate to the executive office and the association as a whole.
The records comprise the following fourteen series:
- Executive Board
- Executive Secretary
- Presidential Papers
- Annual Reports
- Financial
- Subject
- Workshops
- Annual Conference
- Bibliographies
- Scrapbooks
- Sections
- Missouri Association of School Libraries
- Mark Twain Awards
- Epsilon Beta
Each series is arranged by type of material or function and then chronologically.
Besides MLA history, the collection contains considerable resources on censorship and pornography, intellectual freedom, education, and women's rights as well as library specific themes including collection development, continuing education, legislation, information networks, and outreach.