JEAN H. McFARLAND
1907 - 1966
Jean H. McFarland was born in Riverside, California, in 1907.
She graduated from Pomona College in 1929 and in 1930 received
the certificate from the School of Librarianship at the Uni-
versity of California in Berkeley. She was awarded the degree
of Master of Arts in economics from Columbia University in
1935.
She was comissioned an ensign in the U. S. Naval Reserve in
1943, and left the service in 1946 with the rank of lieutenant.
From 1930 on she held several positions in the Library of the
University of California at Berkeley, becoming Assistant
Librarian in 1949. In 1953 she was appointed Librarian at
Reed College, and in 1957 she became Librarian at Vassar, a
post she held until her unexpected death on August 24th, 1966.
We were fortunate to have her at Vassar during what were un-
questionably the most difficult years in the history of the
Library. She presided over a massive and complicated expan-
sion and remodelling at a time when the student enrollment
was growing rapidly enough to have strained the facilities
of the Library even in normal circumstances. She had to
deal simultaneously with a bewildering number and variety of
problems, both administrative and technical, and she was
singularly energetic and resourceful in solving them. Often
and -- by virtue of her position -—inevitably, their solution
involved her in reconciling different views. The needs of
the students and faculty, the welfare of her own staff, and
the requirements of the college administration had all to be
regarded and kept in balance, and it was here especially that
her intelligence, her tact and her patience were invaluable.
Jean McFarland's work was known and respected by her colleagues
throughout the country. She was a member of several profes-
sional organizations (the American Library Association, the
New York Library Association, the California Library Associ-
ation, the American Association of University Women and the
American Association of University Professors); locally, she
was a member of the Presbyterian Church, of the Adirondack
Mountain Club, of the Zonta Club, and of the League of Women
Voters. Fellow-members in these organizations have repeatedly
paid tribute to her dedication: she was anything but a mere
JEAN H. McFARLAND (Continued)
"joiner," being always willing to give her time and to
undertake responsibility; she was active in all of them
and an officer in many.
She was especially active in developing local library
services. She worked diligently on the Library Service
Committee of the Poughkeepsie Chapter of the League of
Women Voters; and she was a charter member of the South-
eastern New York Library Resources Council, in which she
served successively as a Trustee, as Vice-President, and
as President, an office she held at the time of her death.
The extent to which her contributions in this field were
prized is suggested by a co-worker from the University of
the State of New York, who wrote: "At this moment it is
necessary to give some words to the great respect in which
she is held here and to speak of the unique place she
occupied in statewide library planning. As the Librarian
of Vassar, she represented to us the most enlightened
thought in the promotion of academic librarianship, and
we are particularly appreciative of the high order of
service to the entire educational-cultural community she
recognized librarianship to be."
At Vassar, she not only commanded the respect of her col-
leagues by her professional ability, but also engaged their
affection by her friendly and unassuming nature.
Ella M. Elliott
Margaret McKenzie
Madelene Pierce
Howard Green, Chairman
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