Mrs. Lillian Neale Appleby

Lillian Neale Appleby was the librarian at the time the Carnegie-funded library opened in Emmetsburg on December 13, 1912.[1] Lillian Neale was born in Bristol, England, on November 5, 1865, a daughter of Joseph and Anne Jeffrey Neale.[2] In 1883, she came to the United States, and on November 27, 1884, she married George W. Appleby at Trinity Episcopal Church in Emmetsburg. The couple had four children.[3] Tax records published in the Emmetsburg Democrat suggest that Lillian owned land in her own name, in a part of Emmetsburg then known as Call’s Addition.[4]

Appleby served as the fifth librarian in Emmetsburg. In 1904, the first librarian listed for Emmetsburg in the section on “Association and Subscription Libraries” was C.T. Curtis, and the initials without a title would suggest a male librarian.[5] In 1908, Emmetsburg became a public library after a municipal vote for tax support, and the librarian listed was Miss Florence Burt.[6] By 1909, Mrs. Josephine Darland was listed as the librarian, and she was followed by Miss Katherine M. Pierce, who had attended the Iowa Summer Library School in the summer of 1910.[7]

By early 1911, Appleby was listed as the librarian, a position she held for twenty-five years.[8] It is very interesting to note that Appleby was employed as a married woman with several children and a living husband. It is also interesting that she took over the position from a woman who had been trained at the Iowa Summer Library School. Many Iowa librarians received training from the Iowa Library Commission’s Summer School in Iowa City, which ran from 1901 to 1911, and then from 1913 on under the auspices of the State University of Iowa.[9] However, Appleby does not appear as a student in the Summer School for any year prior to her appointment, and after 1914, the lists of students were no longer published in the reports.

On Appleby’s death in 1963, the Emmetsburg Reporter newspaper related-

“Mrs. Appleby is remembered with affection by scores of local students who called at the library for reference material and to read. A capable and always helpful librarian, Mrs. Appleby took pride in a “well run” library and in giving her “students” all the assistance possible. This sometimes included a firm stand when a teenager would request a book which she considered “too adult” for them.”[10]

Also in that issue of the Emmetsburg Reporter, a regular columnist identified only as T.M.K., in “The Scratch Pad” column remembered Mrs. Appleby as “[A] grand lady who moved quietly through almost one hundred years of helpfulness to her fellow men.” T.M.K. spoke of her helpfulness and kindliness, noting particularly “when we got in a bad financial jam with an overdue book drawing a penny a day late penalty, she was always understanding and settled for ‘table stakes’ – whatever we offered out of our grimy cluttered pocket.”[11]

Over a century after Lillian Neale Appleby started her career as a librarian, her great-great-granddaughter, Annie Tunicliffe, earned her MLIS, graduating as a qualified librarian from the University of Iowa School of Library and Information Studies in May 2017.[12]

-Willa Liburd Tavernie

[1] Iowa Library Commission, 6th Report of the Iowa Library Commission (Des Moines: State Printer, 1913), p. 30. Appleby appeared as the librarian for Emmetsburg in the list of Free Public Libraries, Statistics for the Year 1911. She is also listed as the librarian in the Iowa Library Quarterly, v. 6, n. 10, 1911, p. 163
[2] Emmetsburg Reporter, May 7, 1963. Obituary of Lillian Neal Appleby, p. 1, p. 5. https://emmetsburg.newspaperarchive.com/emmetsburg-reporter/1963-05-07/. Accessed July 21, 2017
[3] Ibid.
[4] The Emmetsburg Democrat November 12, 1913. http://www.newspaperabstracts.com/link.php?action=detail&id=20889. Accessed October 6, 2016.
[5] Iowa Library Commission, 1st Report of the Iowa Library Commission (Des Moines: Bernard Murphy, State Printer, 1904), p. 148. Confusingly, in the 2nd Report of the Iowa Library Commission (Des Moines: B. Murphy, State Printer, 1906), p. 24, the librarian is listed as C.F. Curtis, and the year listed for the founding of the library was 1901, not 1902 as in the 1st Report.
[6] [Alice S. Tyler], “Library News of the State – Emmetsburg,” Iowa Library Quarterly, v.5, n. 13, p. 199. Iowa Library Commission, 4th Report of the Iowa Library Commission (Des Moines: Emory H. English, State Printer, 1909), p. 20. There was no statistical record in the 3rd Report.
[7] Iowa Library Commission, 5th Report of the Iowa Library Commission (Des Moines: Emory H. English, State Printer, 1909), p. 28. The notice about Pierce appeared in {Alice S. Tyler], “Library News of the State – Emmetsburg,” Iowa Library Quarterly, v. 6, n. 8, p. 126.
[8] [Alice S. Tyler], “Library News of the State – Emmetsburg,” Iowa Library Quarterly, v.6, n. 9, p. 146. See footnote 2 for Appleby’s longevity in the position. Also, it should be noted that while Appleby’s name does not show up in the Iowa Library Commission, 5th Report of the Iowa Library Commission (Des Moines: Emory H. English, State Printer, 1909), p. 28, as either the librarian, the President or Secretary of the Board of Trustees, or the Chairman of the Book Committee, it is possible that she served on one of the committees without having a leading role.
[9] Iowa Library Commission, 7th Report of the Iowa Library Commission (Des Moines: Robert Henderson, State Printer, 1914), pp. 17-19. www.hathitrust.org. Accessed October 21, 2016. It is interesting to speculate on why Emmetsburg replaced a younger, more modernly trained librarian, Miss Pierce, with Appleby, who was older and didn’t have the benefits of specialized training.
[10] Emmetsburg Reporter, May 7, 1963. Obituary of Lillian Neal Appleby, p. 5. https://emmetsburg.newspaperarchive.com/emmetsburg-reporter/1963-05-07/page-5. Accessed July 17, 2017.
[11] Emmetsburg Reporter, May 7, 1963. “The Scratch Pad,” p. 8. https://emmetsburg.newspaperarchive.com/emmetsburg-reporter/1963-05-07/page-8. Accessed July 21, 2017.
[12] The Emmetsburg Reporter, Tuesday, February 15, 2011. Obituary of Vergene McNamara Farrington. Paloalto.advantage-preservation.com/viewer/?k=”vergene”&i=f&by=2011&bdd=2010&d=01012011-12312011&m=between&ord=k1&fn=the_reporter_usa_iowa_emmetsburg_20110215_english_8&df=1&dt=5. Accessed May 12, 2020. Vergene married George W. Appleby, the grandson(?) of Lillian in 1942. When he died in 1961, Vergene became the children’s librarian at the Spencer Public Library until 1967.