John Cotton Dana Papers

John Cotton Dana (1856-1929) was born and raised in Woodstock, Vermont, the middle one of five brothers. His parents, Charles Dana, a merchant, and Charitie S. Loomis, were of old New England stock. Dana graduated from Dartmouth College in 1878 and spent most of the next decade traveling for his health and trying out a variety of careers across the country. He studied law in Woodstock for two years; worked as a surveyor for the railroads in Colorado; practiced law in New York; worked as an editor in Minnesota; returned to Colorado, where he did some ranching and surveying and practiced law. In 1888 he married Adine Rowena Waggner (d. 1931) of Austin, Texas.

Dana found his calling in 1889 when he was appointed head of the newly established Denver Public Library (then located in a wing of the high school) and Secretary of the Colorado Board of Education, Arapahoe County School District No. 1. In 1895 he served as President of the American Library Association. Dana remained at the Denver Public Library until 1897, and during his tenure he opened the stacks to patrons and organized the first specialized library for children. His next appointment was as City Librarian of Springfield, Massachusetts. In 1902 Dana, who had been recruited by Newark businessman Richard Jenkinson, became the Librarian of the Newark Public Library, a position he would hold until his death in 1929.

While in Newark, Dana continued to champion open stacks and worked to make the library accessible to all. Among his many innovations and initiatives was the founding of a business branch, the first in the country, in 1904. He also worked closely with the Newark Board of Education to establish libraries in schools, and developed special library services and exhibits for school children. The Library loaned prints, maps, and other material to teachers and to schools for use in classes and for display. To attract Newark's burgeoning immigrant population, Dana made the purchase of foreign-language material a priority. During the first decade of his leadership, library circulation rose from 314,000 to over 1 million. The number of registered borrowers more than quadrupled in 25 years, ultimately representing one sixth of the population of Newark.

Dana was instrumental in the founding of the Newark Museum Association in 1909, with a Board of Trustees made up of 50 men and women, including Governor Franklin Murphy as President, along with Louis Bamberger, Richard C. Jenkinson, Thomas Raymond, Robert H. McCarter, John W. Howell, Mrs. Daniel Noorian, C. W. Feigenspan, Wallace Scudder, and Felix Fuld. After a long period when exhibits were presented at the Library, the Newark Museum finally opened its new building in 1926; this building was constructed on property donated by Marcus L. Ward, Jr., and was made possible by a generous donation from Louis Bamberger, who hired Jarvis Hunt from Chicago as the architect and oversaw construction.

Dana was active in Newark's cultural and civic life as a member of the Carteret Book Club, the Stephen Crane Association, the Monks of the Passaic, among other organizations, and served on the Newark Planning Commission. He also was a prolific writer of articles and pamphlets, using his pen to promote his views on education, the arts, and library and museum organization and practice. He was instrumental in founding and was a major contributor and editor of the magazine "The Newarker," published by the Library from 1911 and taken over by the "Committee of One Hundred" from November 1915, as part of the preparations for and celebration of the City's 250th anniversary in 1916. Dana was active professionally as well; he was president of the American Library Association (1895-1896) and founder and first president of the Special Library Association (1909).

Dana was assisted in his work at both the Library and the Museum by a number of women. Chief among them were: Beatrice Winser, who was Assistant Librarian of the Library and Assistant Director of the Museum, and she succeeded him at both institutions upon his death; and Louise Connolly, the educational advisor of the Library and later of the Museum.

In 1935 Mayor Meyer C. Ellenstein declared October 6th to be "John Cotton Dana Day" in Newark; the occasion was celebrated with an address by Dr. Frank Kingdon, President of Newark University, and other events at the Newark Museum.