Mary Lemist Titcomb

Mary Lemist Titcomb (1852 – 1932) was a librarian who developed an early American bookmobile and helped establish a county library system in Washington County, Maryland.

Early life and career Mary Lemist Titcomb was born in Farmington, New Hampshire, on May 16, 1852. In 1873, she graduated from Robinson Female Seminary in Exeter, New Hampshire. Titcomb first learned of the profession of librarianship in a church bulletin. Because there was no formal librarian training at that time, she began working as an unpaid apprentice librarian at the Concord Public Library in Massachusetts.

In 1902, Titcomb took a job as head librarian at the Washington County Free Library in Hagerstown, Maryland, which had opened in 1901 as only the second county library in the United States. She also expanded the reach of the library, sending boxes of 30 books each to stores, post offices, and other public places located in remote areas. Within two years, she had set up 22 of these deposit stations;

The Board of Trustees of the library obtained a Carnegie gift of $2,500 to fund the wagon. The first book wagon was a horse-drawn Concord wagon, which could transport 2,560 volumes stored on shelves on the outside and storage space inside the wagon. The library janitor, Joshua Thomas, drove the wagon, as he was a county native, familiar with the geography of the county and its residents. In the first six months, the book wagon made 31 trips, averaged 30 miles traveled per day, and distributed 1,008 volumes. Titcomb gave specific orders not to rush from house to house, but to allow each family enough time to choose their books.

Library training school & professional service Titcomb recognized the need for training of library personnel and started an official training class at the Washington County Free Library in 1924. Although smaller than other library schools of the time, it offered a comparable curriculum. The training class continued until 1931.

In 1914, Titcomb was elected as the second vice president of the American Library Association. She was also a member of the Women's Club in the American Library Association and chairman of the Regional Training Class of the American Library Association.

Death and legacy Titcomb died in 1932 at the age of 80. She was buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery (Concord, Massachusetts) in Concord, Massachusetts. In 1990, she was inducted into the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame. Both Titcomb and her sister, Lydia Folsom Titcomb Howell, were buried in unmarked graves in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. Author Sharlee Mullins Glenn raised money for Howell's headstone, and the Friends of Sleepy Hollow Cemetery funded a headstone for Titcomb, both of which were unveiled in 2015.