American librarian, created the Dewey Decimal System (died 1931)

Melvil Dewey

Melville Louis Kossuth "Melvil" Dewey was an American librarian and educator who invented the Dewey Decimal system of library classification. He was a founder of the Lake Placid Club, a chief librarian at Columbia College, founder of what would later become the Columbia University School of Library Service, and a founding member of the American Library Association. Although Dewey's contributions to the modern library are widely recognized, his legacy is marred by his sexual harassment of female colleagues, as well as his racism and antisemitism.

Born

1851

December 10

Died

1931

Era

1850s

Country

—

About

Melvil, in brief

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Life timeline

Key dates

1851 Born
1931 Died

Also on December 10

What else happened on this day, through history

1317 The Nyköping Banquet: Birger, King of Sweden treacherously seizes his two brothers, dukes Valdemar and Erik, who are subsequently starved to death in the dungeon of Nyköping Castle.
1508 The League of Cambrai is formed by Pope Julius II, Louis XII of France, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor and Ferdinand II of Aragon as an alliance against Venice.
1520 Martin Luther burns his copy of the papal bull Exsurge Domine outside Wittenberg's Elster Gate.
1541 Thomas Culpeper and Francis Dereham are executed for having affairs with Catherine Howard, Queen of England and wife of Henry VIII.

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The world in 1931

When Melvil departed

april 14 The Second Spanish Republic is proclaimed and King Alfonso XIII goes into exile. Meanwhile, in Barcelona, Francesc Macià proclaims the Catalan Republic.
april 17 After negotiations between Catalan and Spanish provisional governments, the Catalan Republic proclaimed in April 14 becomes the Generalitat de Catalunya, the autonomous government of Catalonia within the Spanish Republic.
august 24 Resignation of the United Kingdom's Second Labour Government. Formation of the UK National Government.
august 5 Judge and Nazi Party member Werner Best drews the Boxheim Documents, which described a violent takeover of the government by the NSDAP.

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Same-day contemporaries

Also born on December 10

Anne de Mowbray 1472–1481 8th Countess of Norfolk (died 1481) Fionnula Flanagan 1941– Irish actress and producer Gaston of Foix 1489– Duke of Nemours (died 1512) Harold Alexander 1891–1969 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis, English field marshal and politician, 17th Governor General of Canada (died 1969) Harold Gould 1923–2010 American actor (died 2010) Michael Clarke Duncan 1957–2012 American actor (died 2012) Nelly Sachs 1891–1970 German-Swedish poet and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1970) Nicky Barr 1915–2006 Australian rugby player, soldier, and pilot (died 2006) Nikolay Nekrasov 1821–1878 Russian poet and critic (died 1877)

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Same-year contemporaries

Also born in 1851

Cora Agnes Benneson 1851–1919 American attorney (died 1919) Oliver Lodge 1851–1940 English physicist and academic (born 1851) Silvanus P. Thompson 1851– English physicist, engineer, and academic (died 1916)

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More to explore

Melvil's birthday December 10 Melvil's zodiac Sagittarius When Melvil departed 1931