1939-1956, Blanche A. Smith

1939-1956, Blanche A. Smith

Blanche Annette Smith was born in Monroe, Iowa, on Aug. 26, 1887, the daughter of Otis E. Smith and Annie Slusser. She attended schools in Des Moines, Shenandoah, and Indianola, Iowa, graduating from Simpson College in 1908. Blanche taught at the Indianola High School, was teacher-librarian at Loveland, Colorado high school from 1914 to 1917 and an Assistant in the Fort Des Moines Hospital Library from 1914-1918. She was a Library Assistant at the Omaha Public Library in Nebraska from 1918-1920. Blanche was also an assistant at the Des Moines Public Library, head of the Extension Division in a Washington, DC Public Library, Assistant Librarian at Cleveland College, and Assistant Professor at Wisconsin Library School. She was appointed Executive Secretary of the Iowa Library Commission in 1938 and became the State Librarian in 1939. Blanche A. Smith died in December 1979 in Des Moines, Iowa. Brown, David K. ed. “State Traveling Library.” State of Iowa Official Register 1939-1940. Des Moines: State of Iowa. 1940.126-127. “Smith, Blanche A(nnette),” Who’s Who in the Midwest. Chicago: A.N. Marquis Company. 1949: 1153. Social Security Administration, “Social Security Death Index,” (Online: Rootsweb.com, 2008) <http://ssdi.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi> for reference to Blanche A. Smith. “Blanche Smith Dies at Wesley Acres,” Indianola Record Herald newspaper, Monday, Dec. 10, 1979, p.4

State Librarians of Iowa 1837 - 2008 Compiled by Karon S. King Library Resource Technician State Library of Iowa 1112 East Grand Avenue Des Moines, Iowa 50319 2008

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