Frances Neel Cheney
Frances Neel Cheney | |
|---|---|
| Born | Frances Neel August 19, 1906 Washington, D.C., United States |
| Died | May 6, 1996 (aged 89) |
| Occupations |
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| Spouse | Brainard Cheney |
Frances Neel Cheney (August 19, 1906 – May 6, 1996)
Early life and education
Frances Neel Cheney was born on August 19, 1906 in Washington, D.C. to Thomas Meeks Neel, a mechanical engineer, and Carrie Tucker Neel, the niece of the confederate soldier, Sam Davis.[1] The family moved frequently: first to Fitzgerald, Georgia from 1911 to 1913, then to Pittsburgh for the next six years where Cheney attended Wilkinsburg Public Schools, and finally to Newberry, South Carolina, her father's birthplace, where she attended high school.[2] Cheney's father had an unsuccessful career in agriculture and died of pneumonia in February 1927.[3]
Cheney enrolled in Vanderbilt University, her father's alma mater, in the fall of 1924, with the intention to study social work. She managed the Tri-Delt sorority house.[4] At Vanderbilt, Cheney studied under Donald Davidson and John Crowe Ransom, members of the Fugitives literary movement. Ultimately, however, she graduated with her BA in sociology in 1928.[3]
During her junior year, she met her future husband, Brainard Cheney, who was then a young reporter for the Nashville Banner. The two married on June 21, 1928, one week after graduation.[4]
Early career and graduate education
Cheney's library career began during her sophomore year at Vanderbilt as a part-time student assistant at the main library in Kirkland Hall. After graduating, she worked in a series of librarian positions at Vanderbilt: in the Chemistry Library in 1928, the Circulation Department in 1929, and finally the Reference Department in 1930, where she remained for the next seven years.[1] During this time, she studied part-time at George Peabody College for Teachers and received her Bachelor of Science degree in library science from in 1934. She also took graduate courses in history, Latin paleography, and English literature.[2]
After briefly studying college and university library administration at the University of Chicago in the summer of 1936, she became the head reference librarian for the Joint University Libraries (JUL) which served Vanderbilt, George Peabody College, and Scarritt College for Christian Workers. She completed her graduate education at Columbia University, earning her Masters of Science in library science in 1940.[1]
In 1943, Cheney served as assistant to the Chair of Poetry in the Library of Congress, Allen Tate. Together, they published the bibliography Sixty American Poets, 1896-1944. She remained at the library of congress for another year as a bibliographer in the General Reference and Bibliography Division. In 1946, she returned to her position at the Joint University Libraries in Nashville.[1]
Teaching career
In 1946, Cheney was hired as an assistant professor at the Peabody Library School of the George Peabody College for Teachers. She served as the school's associate director beginning in 1960 until her retirement in 1975 as professor emeritus. From 1951 to 1952, she was a visiting professor at the Japan Library School of Keio University in Tokyo.[2]
Memberships and honors
- 1956–1961: Executive Board, American Library Association
- 1956–1957: President, Association of American Library Schools
- 1959: Good Teaching Award, Beta Phi Mu
- 1960–1961: president, Reference Service Division, American Library Association
- 1960–1962: president, Southeastern Library Association
- 1960–1962: president, Beta Phi Mu
- 1962: Isadore Gilbert Mudge Citation for Distinguished Contributions to Reference Librarianship, American Library Association
- 1964–1965: president, Library Education Division, American Library Association
- 1966: honorary Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.), Marquette University
- 1970: named first Outstanding Reference Librarian of the Year by the Southeastern Library Association
- 1971: Henry H. Hill Award for Excellence in Teaching, George Peabody College for Teachers
- 1972: Frances Neel Cheney Scholarship Fund is established at George Peabody College for Teachers
- 1976: awarded honorary life membership in the Southeastern Library Association
- 1976: Constance Lindsay Skinner Award, Women's National Book Association
- 1978: honorary membership, American Library Association
- 1980: Mary Utopia Rothrock Award, Southeastern library Association[2]
References
- ^ a b c d Dodge, Robin; Richardson Jr., John V. (2003). "Cheney, Frances Neel (1906-1996)". In Davis Jr., Donald G. (ed.). Dictionary of American Library Biography, Second Supplement. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited. pp. 47–49. ISBN 1563088681.
- ^ a b c d Gleaves, Edwin S. (1983). "A Frances Neel Cheney Chronology". In Gleaves, Edwin S.; Tucker, John Mark (eds.). Reference Services and Library Education: Essays in Honor of Frances Neel Cheney. Lexington Books. pp. 19–22. ISBN 0669053201.
- ^ a b Gleaves, Edwin S. (1983). "Pleased to Teach and Yet Not Proud to Know: A Profile of the Life and Career of Frances Neel Cheney". In Gleaves, Edwin S.; Tucker, John Mark (eds.). Reference Services and Library Education: Essays in Honor of Frances Neel Cheney. Lexington Books. pp. 5–18. ISBN 0669053201.
- ^ a b Green, Etha (May–August 1963). "Our Frontispiece: Frances Neel Cheney". Bulletin of Bibliography. 24 (1): 1–3.
- ^ Parks, Martha (October 1956). "Designer of the New Look: Frances Neel Cheney". Tennessee Librarian: Quarterly Journal of the Tennessee Library Association. 9: 3–4. ISSN 0162-1564.