William Frederick Poole

William Frederick Poole 1821-94, American librarian, bibliographer, and historian, b. Essex co., Mass. Poole was librarian of the Boston Athenæum (1856-69), of the public libraries of Cincinnati (1871-73) and Chicago (1874-87), and of the Newberry Library (1887-94). A pioneer in theories of library administration, he assisted in organizing many libraries, including the Chicago Public Library, the Newberry Library, and the library of the U.S. Naval Academy. A founder of the American Library Association (1876), he was later its president. He compiled the first general index to U.S. periodicals, Poole's Index to Periodical Literature (1848), and edited two other editions (1853, 1882). Later editions were edited by W. J. Fletcher; the last appeared in 1907. This index was replaced by the Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature. Among Poole's numerous writings are monographs on American history, including Cotton Mather and Salem Witchcraft (1869) and Anti-Slavery Opinions before 1800 (1873).

Poole, William Frederick (1821–94), Massachusetts librarian, as an undergraduate at Yale in 1848 began his Alphabetical Index to Subjects Treated in the … Periodicals …, the precursor of the present Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature. He compiled catalogues for the Boston Athenaeum, the public libraries of Cincinnati and Chicago, and the Newberry Library (Chicago), all of which he headed at different times. His writings include The Battle of the Dictionaries (1856), The Popham Colony (1866), and Cotton Mather and Salem Witchcraft (1869).