Adeline Zachert

Adeline Zachert
A smiling middle-aged white woman with greying hair in a bouffant updo
Adeline B. Zachert, from a 1925 newspaper
BornNovember 15, 1876
Pulin, Russian Empire
DiedAugust 11, 1965 (age 88)
Santa Barbara, California, US
Occupation(s)Librarian, clubwoman

Adeline Beth Zachert (November 15, 1876 – August 11, 1965) was a Russian-born American librarian, educator, and clubwoman. Zachert was based in Rochester, New York, for much of her career, but also worked in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and the U. S. Virgin Islands.

Early life and education

Zachert was born in Pulin in the Russian Empire (now Pulyny in Ukraine), the daughter of Edward Gustav Zachert and Wilhelmine Rushki Zachert. Her parents were born in Poland; they were Baptist missionaries in Russia.[1][2] She moved to the United States with her family at the age of 12; they settled in Louisville, Kentucky.[3]

Career

Zachert was a children's librarian in Louisville in the 1900s.[3][4] She was Pennsylvania's state director of school libraries in the 1920s. "Any judge of juvenile court will tell you how reading influences the adolescent boy or girl. What are we going to do about it?" she asked a New Jersey audience in 1925.[5] She called school libraries "book laboratories" to communicate their value as dynamic, essential features of a school.[6][7][8]

In 1920 and 1921, Zachert established three libraries in the U. S. Virgin Islands[9] as a representative of the American Library Association[10] and the American Red Cross.[11] She traveled in Europe in 1938.[12] She spoke about her work and her travels at professional meetings,[6][7] and at women's community groups.[5][13]

Zachert worked for much of her career in the Rochester Public Library system.[14] She was head of children's services beginning in 1912, and worked to establish classroom libraries in the city's public schools, playgrounds, hospitals, and factories.[15] She was acting city librarian in 1919.[16] After working in the Virgin Islands and Pennsylvania, she returned to Rochester in 1927,[17] and was supervisor of the extension division of the Rochester Public Library.[13]

Zachert helped found the Business and Professional Women's Club in Rochester in 1919, and was its first chair.[16][18] She moved to Santa Barbara, California in 1940,[19] and continued active as a library speaker there.[20][21][22] She also gave talks and collected winter clothing for Russian war relief.[23][24]

Publications

  • "What shall we do to interesting school authorities in the value and interest of the library?" (1923)[25]
  • Preface to an English-language edition of Johanna Spyri, Heidi (1924)[26]

Personal life and legacy

Zachert died in 1965, in Santa Barbara, at the age of 88.[2] Her niece and namesake, Adeline Zachert Barber, was a writer and educator, and worked for the American Red Cross in Japan in the 1950s.[27] Another niece, Virginia Zachert, was a psychologist with the United States Air Force and at the Medical College of Georgia.[1][28] Her nephew Edward was married to another prominent librarian, Martha Jane Koontz Zachert.[29]

References

  1. ^ a b "Rev. Reinbold E. Zachert". The Macon News. 1952-07-22. p. 11. Retrieved 2023-06-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ a b "Miss Adeline Zachert". The Columbus Ledger. 1965-09-02. p. 17. Retrieved 2023-06-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ a b "Miss Adeline Zachert". Messenger-Inquirer. 1906-08-04. p. 4. Retrieved 2023-06-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Closing the Book: Highlands Library Ends Century of Service with Memories, Hopes". The Courier-Journal. 1994-01-05. p. 40. Retrieved 2023-06-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ a b "Function of Public Library; John A. Lowe and Miss Adeline Zachert Give their Views in Talk Before College Woman's Club". The Montclair Times. 1925-01-24. p. 10. Retrieved 2023-06-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ a b "Rhode Island". Public Libraries. 28 (10): 584. December 1923.
  7. ^ a b "Teachers' Institute Continues in Wayne". The Tribune. 1924-11-13. p. 10. Retrieved 2023-06-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Former Library Director Urges Care for Future; Library Heart of School says Adeline Zachert in Talk". Democrat and Chronicle. 1926-03-20. p. 25. Retrieved 2023-06-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Islands of World Subject of Colonists". Santa Barbara News-Press. 1942-02-18. p. 4. Retrieved 2023-06-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "Miss Adeline Zachert Selected for Big Work". The Courier-Journal. 1920-10-20. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-06-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Gossip Shop". The Bookman. 52 (5): 380. January 1921.
  12. ^ "Club Will Hear Talk on Hitler". Democrat and Chronicle. 1938-07-17. p. 43. Retrieved 2023-06-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ a b "Adeline Zachert to Talk at Credit Group's Meeting". Democrat and Chronicle. 1934-11-17. p. 6. Retrieved 2023-06-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "Miss A. B. Zachert to Join Staff of U. of R., is Report". Democrat and Chronicle. 1929-10-31. p. 21. Retrieved 2023-06-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ Uttaro, Patricia. "From One Branch Sprouts Many: Celebrating One Hundred Years of the People's University" Rochester History 73(1)(Spring 2011): 13–16.
  16. ^ a b "Business Women Take Steps to Form New Club". Democrat and Chronicle. 1919-01-29. p. 20. Retrieved 2023-06-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ "School Library Progress: Eastern States". School Library Yearbook. 2: 14. 1927.
  18. ^ "Business Women to Celebrate 20th Anniversary of Club's Founding". Democrat and Chronicle. 1939-02-05. p. 55. Retrieved 2023-06-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ "Noted Librarian To Spend Summer Here". Santa Barbara News-Press. 1940-06-09. p. 12. Retrieved 2023-06-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ "Book Reviews Will Concern 'Europe Now'". Santa Barbara News-Press. 1940-10-13. p. 13. Retrieved 2023-06-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ "Dramatic Arts in Russia Topic at Players Club". Santa Barbara News-Press. 1944-02-25. p. 4. Retrieved 2023-06-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ^ "'Fascist Italy' to be Topic of Library Talk". Santa Barbara News-Press. 1941-02-09. p. 13. Retrieved 2023-06-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ^ "Zontians Hear Description of Russia". Santa Barbara News-Press. 1943-03-26. p. 4. Retrieved 2023-06-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ^ "Adeline Zachert Will Address Episcopal Group". Santa Barbara News-Press. 1944-05-01. p. 4. Retrieved 2023-06-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ^ Zachert, Adeline B. (July 1923). "What shall we do to interesting school authorities in the value and interest of the library?". Public Libraries. 28 (7): 403–405.
  26. ^ "Heidi, by Johanna Spyri et al". The Online Books Page. Retrieved 2023-06-23.
  27. ^ "Speaker Tells Cuthbert Lions of Japan Today". The Columbus Ledger. 1953-07-25. p. 8. Retrieved 2023-06-22 – via Newspapers.com.
  28. ^ "Virginia Zachert Obituary". The Augusta Chronicle, via Legacy.com. 2012. Retrieved 2023-06-22.
  29. ^ Bridges, Jane (2018-07-02). "Martha Jane Zachert, PhD, AHIP, FMLA". Journal of the Medical Library Association. 106 (3): 391–392. doi:10.5195/jmla.2018.502. ISSN 1558-9439. PMC 6013137.