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In Memoriam Senator Claiborne Pell
By howard | January 2, 2009
One of the special things about having come to the state of Rhode Island as a young librarian in 1979 was to have come to the state of Senator Claiborne Pell. Senator Pell’s name was already virtually synonymous with our government’s role in the kind of cultural phenomena that libraries comprise. The Arts. . .the Humanities. . .Higher Education. . .Libraries themselves. . .federal participation bore the stamp of his leadership. State and local governments followed or benefited from that federal role. We would not have the libraries – or the cultural heritage we are so proud of – without his impetus.
Senator Pell was the genius behind the National Endowment of the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities and, of course, the Pell grants that bear his name. He was also a sponsor of the White House Conferences on Libraries and information Services and of the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) . We would not have become the libraries or the librarians we are without him.
Claiborne Pell passed away on New Year’s Day. We will miss him. Our hearts are with his family and friends, we mourn alongside them. Let us hope that we can continue to act on the inspiration he has been to us throughout his long life of service.
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