From the Desk of Gratia Countryman
Gratia Countryman was very important to the history of Hennepin County Library. She was the director of Minneapolis Public Library for over 30 years and she founded Hennepin County Library. Her first job in the library included classifying the 30,000 volumes that made up the library’s initial collection in 1889. Within a year she was appointed head of the cataloging department. In the photo above she is the one reading, her cataloging co-worker at the time, Louise Lynsky is also in the photo.
“We seem to be living in a period when children must be entertained continually…it is to be deeply regretted that the home no longer takes the burden of recreation activities, but throws the burden off upon the school, the public park and playgrounds, the library…” - Gratia Countryman, 1915 Annual Report of Minneapolis Public Library, page 22.
