Herbert Putnam

Librarian, born in New York City, New York, USA. As Librarian of Congress (1899–1939), he instituted the Library of Congress classification scheme and pre-printed index cards.

Herbert Putnam, Litt.D., LL.D. (September 20, 1861 – August 14, 1955) was Librarian of Congress.

He was librarian at the Minneapolis Athenaeum, 1884-1887, and the Minneapolis Public Library, 1887-1891. He practised law in Boston, Massachusetts, 1892-1895, and was librarian of the Boston Public Library, 1895-1899 where he did much to improve that library's collection of photographs.

Herbert Putnam was appointed elected president of the American Library Association in 1898 and again in 1904, and was appointed Librarian of Congress in 1899 by President William McKinley. Early during his administration, Putnam introduced a new system of classifying books that continues to this day as the Library of Congress classification. He also established an interlibrary loan system, and expanded the Library of Congress's role and relationships with other libraries, through the provision of centralized services.

He became an overseer of Harvard University in 1902 and in 1925 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Adapted from The Americana.