“Named Director of National Defense Book Program.”

“Named Director of National Defense Book Program.”

Acme

November 26, 1941.

Althea Warren, chief librarian of the Los Angeles Public Library, headed the 1942 Victory Book Campaign. Charles Taft, a government official, openly stated a man would do a better job. Warren’s successor was a man and he collected fewer books. Taft’s blatant sexism infuriated Warren, who remarked to a friend that he made her “want to haul off and slap him in the jaw…. He is so full of criticism and with no suggestions to help.”

From the Collection of Molly Guptill Manning