MBLC Celebrates 125 Years

In 1915: On Jan. 22, "the Governor and Council approved the appointment by the Commission of Mr. John Adams Lowe as agent."¹ Miss Zaidee Brown, the first agent of the Commission, resigned in April 1914 to take a post as librarian in Long Beach, California.²

TODAY: On May 12, 2014, Dianne Carty was appointed director of the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.³

Johnny Gruelle received the patent for the Raggedy Ann doll (US Patent D47789) on September 7, 1915.^[4][5]

What else happened in 1915?

• The United States Coast Guard was established on January 28 under an act of Congress that merged the Revenue Cutter Service with the U. S. Life-Saving Service.⁶
• Mary Mallon (Typhoid Mary) was arrested and quarantined on North Brother Island, New York, where she remained until her death in 1938.⁷
• On May 7, RMS Lusitania was torpedoed off the coast of Ireland by the German submarine (or u-boat) U-20, sinking in 18 minutes. Of the known 1,960 people on board, 767 survived and 1,193 perished in the Lusitania disaster.⁸

References:
1. Twenty-fourth Report of the Free Public Library Commission of Massachusetts, 1916.
2. Twenty-fifth Report of the Free Public Library Commission of Massachusetts, 1915.
3. MBLC website [link].
4. Raggedy Ann - Wikipedia entry [link].
5. www.raggedyann.cc [link].
6. www.uscg.mil [link].
7. www.history.com [link].
8. www.rmslusitania.info [link].