As the Community Outreach Specialist at Safe Passage, I spend a lot of my time in libraries. I enjoy the calm, welcoming atmosphere. I have found that because of this atmosphere, people feel comfortable to discuss hard topics like abuse, and seek help they or someone they know need. Libraries are a safe space where all are welcome. When we think of the history of libraries there is a name some people may know, Melvil Dewey of the Dewey Decimal System. Curious about the individual behind the system, I began to research the man. What I found was an individual who both helped create the modern library logistically, while being totally antithetical to the culture of the institution itself. Dewey was a serial perpetrator of sexual assault. While this shocked and saddened me, the story of the women who stood up to him did more to create the library culture we know today than Dewey ever could. One of them, Adelaide Hasse, is an extremely important figure in library history.
Hasse had created a new system to classify government documents, but had her work stolen by a male colleague. Disappointed but hopeful for the future, she took a job at the New York Public Library with a better salary and more discretion to run the library as she wanted. In 1905, to support and advise her on her plans, Hasse reached out to Melvil Dewey. He invited her to meet privately and she made her way to New York. The specifics of what happened at that meeting are unclear, but after taking her for a long drive alone, she fled and afterwards would talk to colleagues about his abusive nature. Dewey is remembered today as the man who made the library as we know it today. His influence was broad, everything from its organizational methods, its aesthetic, to the roles of the librarians who managed them have been influenced by him. Despite his many achievements and public status, his pattern of sexual harassment was so egregious that women (whose careers he often could make or break) like Hasse dared to speak out against it. This is especially notable given the time period and normalization of these predatory behaviors. So many came forward that he was kicked out of the profession’s most prestigious association that he himself helped found.
One of these librarians was Tessa Kelso, the head librarian of the Los Angeles Public Library who wrote in the paper that, “For many years women librarians have been the special prey of Mr. Dewey in a series of outrages against decency.” (Blakemore) Unfortunately, his behavior was often minimized by male peers, including Dewey’s son, who described his actions as mere, “disregard of conventions.” (Blakemore)
Ironically, Dewey is the reason the library sciences became such an important field for women. “Dewey insisted on admitting women to the male-only graduate program in librarianship at Columbia College, and even lost his job in part due to that decision.” (Blakemore) However, as I am sure many have already guessed, this was not out of the goodness of his heart. “Dewey knew the modern libraries he needed would require cheap, eager labor—and the generation’s few professional women, who were determined to prove themselves in a male-dominated world, were the perfect fit.” (Blakemore)
While Dewey championed women in Library Science, he believed that harassment was part of the job. His predatory behavior was so well known, that rumors circulated that he asked women to submit their bust measurements along with their applications. While this is false, the fact that it was so widely thought does speak to how he was perceived. He surrounded himself with librarians and would often pressure or orchestrate events causing them to be alone with him.
In 1905, Dewey took a cruise to Alaska with members of the American Library Association (ALA). During the cruise, Dewey’s misconduct could no longer be ignored by the men in the field after it came out that he had assaulted at least four women on the ship. After this, Dewey was forced out of the ALA, an organization he had cofounded (a rare public consequence in this era). Though Hasse was given the chance to testify against Dewey, she, potentially out of fear of losing the career she fought so hard, for decided against it.
Fifteen years after being forced out of the ALA, “Dewey was accused of inappropriate behavior with other female librarians. Tessa Kelso… then helped organize a group of women to privately testify against Dewey. During that investigation, it surfaced that Dewey had supposedly harassed his own daughter-in-law to the extent that she moved out of his house. Dewey denied the accusations, claiming that Kelso and the other women were “old maids” who wanted to ruin his career, and the investigation was eventually dropped.” (Blakemore) In 1930, Dewey’s former stenographer accused him of assaulting her, including kissing her against her will in a taxi. Though Dewey disputed the accusation, he paid $2,147 ($40,840.70 in 2025) to hush up the case.
Like many other abusers in history, Dewey’s pattern of sexual abuse has been noted, but often minimized, with his misconduct usually written off as secondary to his contributions to the modern library system. While he was critical in the push for women to work in libraries, he didn’t want them to feel safe there. His innovations helped create modern libraries, but we will never know the full extent of the pain he caused.
Today libraries are viewed as a safe haven where everyone is equal and welcome. To acknowledge Dewey’s logistical contributions to libraries, while ignoring his predatory behaviors, minimizes the hard work and suffering many women went through. These women helped to help create the culture of safety and inclusivity that I still see reflected in our communities’ libraries every week.
Resources:
Blakemore, Erin. “The Father of Modern Libraries Was a Serial Sexual Harasser.” History.Com, A&E Television Networks, 19 Dec. 2017, www.history.com/news/the-father-of-modern-libraries-was-a-serial-sexual-harasser.
Written by: Paul Benson
