Carey, Miriam E. (1858–1937)

American librarian. Born on February 21, 1858, in Peoria, Illinois; died on January 9, 1937, in Cheyenne, Wyoming; daughter and second of three children of Reverend Isaac Eddy (a Presbyterian minister); mother's name unknown; attended Rockford Seminary, 1876; attended Oberlin College, Ohio, 1877; attended library school of the University of Illinois, 1898.

Miriam E. Carey was the innovative force in the movement to establish libraries in state institutions throughout the United States. She began her work as a librarian at age 40, following many years of teaching and some time spent at Hull House in Chicago, where she was greatly influenced by the work of Jane Addams . In 1899, after a year in library school, Carey took a job as director of the public library in Burlington, Iowa, where Alice S. Tyler , secretary of the library commission, and Fanny Duren , a young college graduate, were experimenting with the use of books in the new School for Delinquent Boys. Their work, and Tyler's convincing presentation to the Iowa Board of Control, eventually led to the creation of the position of supervisor for the Iowa State Institution Libraries, the first position of its kind in America. Appointed to the new post in 1906, Carey oversaw the pioneering program, which utilized books as a rehabilitative tool in prison wards and mental hospitals, as well as in tuberculosis sanitariums and schools for delinquent children. In 1913, after success with the Iowa plan, Carey was appointed to head the institutional libraries in Minnesota, where she organized libraries at 18 various institutions across the state.

During World War I, the American Library Association sent Carey to establish libraries in army camps and hospitals across five southern states, which would prove to be a great morale booster for soldiers in training, in action, or in hospitals, and helped spur a later national movement to establish civilian hospital libraries. From 1913 to 1923, Carey also served as chair of the Committee on Libraries in Correctional Institutions. After her retirement in 1927 at age 69, she taught at the newly established library school at the University of Minnesota and took up the study of Italian. She also wrote some short stories based on her prison experiences. Miriam E. Carey died on January 9, 1937, at age 78.

Barbara Morgan , Melrose, Massachusetts