Skip to main content

MBLC Celebrates 125 Years

1954

Miss Wetter (Mary Wickes) and Ma Kettle (Marjorie Main) in Ma and Pa Kettle at Home, 1954

Miss Wetter (Mary Wickes) and Ma Kettle (Marjorie Main) in Ma and Pa Kettle at Home, 1954. Miss Wetter is a "maiden lady librarian, [who] knows all about books but nothing about cooking." She "drives up – in the library bookmobile! – to drop off a book about successful fruit growing for Elwin." Ma Kettle tries to set Miss Wetter up with Alphonsus Mannering, played by Alan Mowbray, with predictable results.1

In 1954: "In the spring of 1954 following a series of discussion and exploratory meetings cosponsored by this Division and the Department's Office of Audio-Visual Education, the Public Libraries Film Cooperative was initiated. Fifteen public libraries and one of the Division's Regional Library Centers are purchasing films for permanent deposit in the Office of Audio-Visual Education."2

TODAY: In 2014, Massachusetts library patrons borrowed 13,184,189 videos.3

What else happened in 1954?

  • The first automated toll collection device became operational on November 10 on the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey.4
  • The Geneva Conference was convened, resulting in the division of Vietnam into North and South at the 17th parallel.5
  • Brown v. Board of Education (of Topeka, Kansas) was decided, leading to desegregation of schools.6

References:
1. www.reel-librarians.com [link].
2. Sixty-fifth Annual Report of the Board of Library Commissioners for the Year Ending June 30, 1954.
3. MBLC website [link].
4. Famous First Facts. Published by H.W. Wilson, New York.
5. Famous First Facts. Published by H.W. Wilson, New York.
6. www.infoplease.com [link].