The Library of Virginia
Home >> Who We Are >> Exhibitions >>Virginia Library Association - Honoring the Past, Building Our Future: One Hundred Years of the Virginia Library Association
 
 

Virginia Library Association Logo

Honoring the Past, Building Our Future: One Hundred Years of the Virginia Library Association

Founding the VLA

The Virginia Library Association began as a collaborative enterprise between senior staff of the Virginia State Library (now the Library of Virginia), led by State Librarian John P. Kennedy, and librarians across the state. Answering a call to meet, librarians convened in Richmond on 6 December 1905 to organize the Virginia Library Association.
 

Letter, Edward S. Evans, Assistant Librarian, to Librarian, Hampden-Sidney College, November 27, 1905.
Click Image to Enlarge

Letter, Edward S. Evans, Assistant Librarian, to Librarian, Hampden-Sydney College, 27 November 1905. Typescript. Virginia Library Association Papers, acc. 32434

In his letter, Edward S. Evans encouraged H. R. McIlwaine, librarian at Hampden-Sydney College, in Farmville, to attend the organizational meeting. Evans included a draft constitution for the proposed Virginia Library Association, which began

We, citizens of Virginia believing that Library facilities are necessary for the culture and education of the people and that libraries are as important as any branch of the great system of public education; do hereby organize ourselves for the promotion of a close intercourse among librarians and all interested in library work in Virginia and to further library interests in general.

McIlwaine, one of the founding members of the Virginia Library Association, later became State Librarian.

Photograph of H. R. McIlwaine

Page of Minute book, 1905–1930s.
Click Image to Enlarge

Minute book, 1905–1930s. Bound manuscript. Virginia Library Association Papers, acc. 32434.

On 6 December 1905, a group of librarians met at the Virginia State Library to organize the Virginia Library Association.


Founding the VLA | What the VLA does