Leslie I. Poste

Leslie Irlyn Poste (1918–1996) was a US librarian in the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program at the end of World War II, and was active in the preservation, conservation and restitution of books, scrolls, manuscripts and reports accumulated by the German government from the occupied countries.

Early life Having studied at Wayne State University, Poste received his bachelor's degree in Library Science from Columbia University.

Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Program

Offenbach Archival Depot Poste was assigned to work at the Offenbach Archival Depot in 1945. His job was to scour the countryside for locations of books stored by the Germans in remote locations to avoid destruction by Allied bombing. The original collecting point in 1945 was the Rothschild Library in Frankfurt, but the overwhelming numbers required them to find a new location in the IG Farben Building in Offenbach. This five-story building was soon renamed the Offenbach Archival Depot. General Eisenhower issued an order in September 1945 that all trained librarians who were officers in the Western Theatre of Operations were to report to him for possible duty in the MFA&A. Poste was selected from the other librarians for this duty, and ended up driving over a week in an open jeep around Hesse and , who helped select and set up the Collecting Point at Offenbach. Cataloging was streamlined under Poste, and some 300 books a day eventually increased to where millions of books could be returned to their libraries.

Robert M. Edsel writes:

Seymour J. Pomrenze said:

Post War activities Upon his return from Europe in 1947, he taught at both the University of Kentucky and the University of Denver before earning his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago's Graduate School in 1958. From 1958 until 1978, he was a professor of Library and Information Science at SUNY-Geneseo. Following his retirement from the university, Poste was an antiquarian bookseller until his death in 1996.

Publications Poste, Leslie Irlyn, June 1958, revised August 1964, "The Development of US Protection of Libraries and Archives in Europe During World War II." Fort Gordon, GA: US Army Civil Affairs School. "Prepared ... as [the author's] doctoral dissertation at the Graduate Library School, University of Chicago." 329 pages. OCLC: 1152347. Poste, Leslie. 1948. "Books Go Home". Library Journal. December 1, 1948, page 1704. Poste, Leslie. 1947. "US Information Centers." Military Government Weekly Information Bulletin. Issue Number 100, July 7, 1947. Pages 4–6. Martin, James F., Leslie I Poste, and Paul Kruse. 1954. A brief history of the University of Denver Press: a paper. "August 9, 1954." "Paper presented to Mr. Leslie I. Poste and Mr. Paul Kruse, The University of Denver, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the courses Research methods in librarianship and Literature of subject fields." Copies of the University of Denver Press 1948, 1950, 1952 book lists inserted at end. Tagung der Bibliotheksdirektoren der Amerikanisch Besetzten Zone, Stuttgart, 1946, and Leslie Irlyn Poste. 1946. Protokoll. 10 pages. Spahn, Raymond J., and Leslie I. Poste. 1949. "The Germans Hail America: Some Aspects of Communication Media in Occupied Germany". Modern Language Journal. 33 (6): 417–426. . Poste, Leslie I., and A. Noblecourt. 1959. "Review of Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict". The Library Quarterly. 29 (3): 212–213. Poste, Leslie I. 1969. ":Kriegs- und Nachkriegsschicksale der Niedersächsischen Landesbibliothek in Hannover (1939-1950)". The Library Quarterly. 39 (2): 200-200.