Klas August Linderfelt
Klas August Linderfelt | |
---|---|
William Isaac Fletcher | |
Personal details | |
Born | 1847 Sweden |
Died | March 18, 1900 Paris, France | (aged 52–53)
Children | 4, including Karl and Anna |
Education | Uppsala University |
Occupation | Librarian |
Conviction(s) | Embezzlement |
Criminal penalty | Suspended sentence |
Klas August Linderfelt (1847 – March 18, 1900)
Early life and education
Linderfelt was born in
Milwaukee Public Library
The Milwaukee Public Library dates to February 7, 1878, when the
Under Linderfelt's leadership, the Milwaukee Public Library developed a new charging system and a pencil dater for due dates that was widely adopted by libraries.
Linderfelt was a founder and the first president of the Wisconsin Library Association in February 1891.[5][10] He was active in the American Library Association, serving as a councilor from 1883 to 1891 and vice president from 1890 to 1891. He was instrumental in local arrangements for the ALA's 1886 annual conference in Milwaukee, including an eight-day, 1500 mile post-conference train excursion afterwards arranged by Linderfelt, which included a steamboat trip on the Dells of the Wisconsin River. In 1891, he was elected to follow Samuel Swett Green as President of the American Library Association.[1][11]
Linderfelt's most significant achievement was the arrangements for the construction of a library and museum building at 814 Wisconsin Avenue.
Embezzlement charges
Beginning in at least 1883, Linderfelt began embezzling large sums of money from the Library, chiefly by double-billing the board for Library expenditures and pocketing the difference. He never provided a motive for his theft, but it was widely speculated, and argued by his lawyer, that the financial demands of Linderfelt's prestigious position in society were not met by his modest public salary.[5]
He was first investigated in 1888 over a shortfall in the collection of library fines, but the missing money was reimbursed, reportedly by two members of the Library board of trustees, and the matter was dropped.
The library profession was stunned by Linderfelt's arrest. The news was "a great shock", Green wrote later in his history of the profession.[14] Green wrote to Poole: "I should have as soon suspected myself as Linderfelt" and others had similar reactions of disbelief.[5] Many librarians wrote letters of support for Linderfelt.[15] The ALA acted swiftly to mitigate the damage to the image of the profession. On May 22, the executive board of the ALA moved that William I. Fletcher be appointed president following Linderfelt's resignation, and that he be officially recorded as president retroactively for the entire term, essentially erasing Linderfelt from the historical record of the ALA.[5] A month later, Melvil Dewey was elected ALA president for the next term.[5] The incident was seen as a triumph of newer librarians like Dewey over the "old guard" represented by Poole, of whom Linderfelt was seen as a protege.[16]
In Milwaukee, Linderfelt received strong support from members of the board of trustees and the city's elite, who pushed to reimburse the city and reinstate the librarian. However, local newspapers objected, especially following revelations of the previous investigation and that Linderfelt had stolen nearly twice as much as initially thought, over $9,000. On July 12, Linderfelt pleaded nolo contendere and Judge A. Scott Sloan, saying that "further punishment would be wrong", issued a suspended sentence. Linderfelt left Milwaukee that day for a promised job at the Library Bureau in Boston.[15]
The lenient sentence was met with outrage in the city. Newspapers inveighed against the decision and residents held "indignation meetings" to agitate against it. Within days, upon the urging of Mayor Somers, the district attorney scrambled to find new charges to file against Linderfelt and ordered his arrest in Boston. But Linderfelt had already left Boston and was sighted in England later that month. Poole wrote: "They let him off without punishment, and are now chasing him around the world to arrest him for another trial."[15]
Later life
Linderfelt settled in
His daughter Anna Linderfelt Fisher became a Red Cross worker during World War I, and an advisor to Faisal I of Iraq.[19]
Legacy
Linderfelt has been ignored or received cursory treatment in histories of both Milwaukee and the library profession in the United States, including the work of Linderfelt's immediate successor at the Milwaukee Public Library and longtime assistant
In 1991, the centennial of the founding of the Wisconsin Library Association, former WLA presidents began the tradition of annually passing an urn with non-human ashes representing Linderfelt to each president at the end of their term. Linderfelt was inducted into the Wisconsin Library Hall of Fame in 2009.[10]
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8728-7180-9.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8135-4419-9.
- Milwaukee Daily Sentinel. 9 October 1875. p. 8.
- ^ a b c "Milwaukee Public Library History". Milwaukee Public Library. Archived from the original on 4 November 2014. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
- ^ JSTOR 25620999.
- ^ Nix, Larry (7 April 2009). "Library Charging Systems". Wisconsin Library Heritage Center. Retrieved 4 December 2013.
- ^ Nix, Larry (20 November 2008). "Milwaukee Pencil Dater". Wisconsin Library Heritage Center. Retrieved 4 December 2013.
- JSTOR 25540689.
- JSTOR 1763390.
- ^ a b Nix, Larry (5 October 2009). "Klas August Linderfelt (1847-1900)". Wisconsin Library Heritage Center. Retrieved 4 December 2013.
- ^ Nix, Larry (20 December 2008). "ALA in Milwaukee 1886". Wisconsin Library Heritage Center. Retrieved 4 December 2013.
- ISBN 978-0-471-85797-6.
- JSTOR 25540591.
- ^ Green, Samuel Swett (1913). The public library movement in the United States 1853-1893. Boston Book Co. p. 270.
- ^ JSTOR 25621033.
- ISBN 978-0-8389-0680-4.
- Milwaukee Journal. 27 December 1894. p. 3.
- ^ "Librarians". Library Journal. 25: 194. April 1900.
- S2CID 145566247.
- JSTOR 25621158.
- ^ "ALA's Past Presidents". American Library Association. 20 November 2007. Retrieved 26 September 2015.