Music Librarianship > Music Librarians
Lowell Pierson Beveridge
Photograph, no date
Columbia University Archives, Rare Book and Manuscript Library
From about 1923 to 1930, various members of the Department of Music faculty acted as supervisors of the music collections. In 1932, the Music Library appointed its first full-time staff member, Marguerite Rothen, after the arrangement of having the Department of Music secretary work half-time in the library had proved unsuccessful. Lowell P. Beveridge, a Department of Music faculty member from 1930 to 1952 and University Organist, served as the departmental representative to the library, and became a central figure in promoting and strengthening the library's collections and improving its facilities.
Richard S. Angell became Columbia's first professional music librarian in 1934. He was succeeded in 1946 by his assistant, Catherine K. Miller, who served until 1951. Thomas T. Watkins held the post from 1951 until 1983, and Kathleen Haefliger from 1983 to 1988. The present music librarian, Elizabeth Davis, assumed the post in 1988.
Both Angell and Miller also held teaching posts in Columbia's School of Library Service, founded in 1926. They were among the school's first music specialists. When the school established its new M.S. program in library science in 1948, the course offerings included Music Library Administration.