DOROTHY ALLEN GOODRICH (1884-1953)

While there were some librarians who headed an NYPL branch and later served in the administrative offices of the Circulation Department (CD), Dorothy Goodrich did the reverse.  She worked in CD Administration for 18 years before being assigned to head a branch.

Dorothy Goodrich was born in Brantford Canada but grew up in Massachusetts, where her father was a professor of German at Williams College.  She was partially educated in Germany while her father studied there, 1901-1903.  She graduated from Williamstown (MA) High School upon her return and apparently did not attend college.

Goodrich took the one-year course at the NYPL Library School in 1912-1913 and then took a position at the Ferguson Library in Stamford CT.

In 1915 Goodrich returned to NYPL as an assistant and finished the second year of the NYPL Library School in 1916.  For one year she served as First Assistant at the Yorkville Branch and then transferred to become Secretary to the Chief of the Circulation Department.  In 1928 she was promoted to Executive Assistant for the CD, a position she held until 1935.  After 18 years working in CD administration, Goodrich was promoted to head the George Bruce Branch, a position she held until her retirement in 1944. 

Today would be the 127^th birthday of Dorothy A. Goodrich.