Mary U. Rothrock

Mary Utopia Rothrock (September 19, 1890 – January 30, 1976), was an American librarian and historian.

Born in Brick Church in Giles County, Tennessee, Rothrock grew up Trenton, Tennessee. She was the youngest of five children of John Rothrock, a Presbyterian minister, and his wife, Utopia (Herron) Rothrock. She attended public schools in Milan, Tennessee, and Somerville, Tennessee, and the Ward Seminary in Nashville. She graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1912 with a Master of Science degree, and the New York School of Library Science in Albany in 1914. While in New York, she worked as an assistant at the New York State Library. Rothrock returned to Tennessee in 1915 to serve as Head of Circulation at the Cossitt Library in Memphis.

In 1916, Knoxville businessman and philanthropist Calvin M. McClung persuaded her to move to Knoxville to be Chief Librarian of the Lawson McGhee Library. She served in that position until 1933. During her tenure, she oversaw the establishment of the branch system that would later evolve into the Knox County Public Library system. She was also instrumental in persuading McClung to donate his personal collection to the library system, creating the Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection. This collection provided the core of the East Tennessee Historical Society (ETHS), of which Rothrock was a charter member. She afterward returned to the Knox County Library system, working as the Knox County Librarian from 1949 to 1955. After retiring, she remained active with the library system in some capacity until her death in 1976.

In 1946, she served as president of the American Library Association (ALA). In 1976 she was awarded American Library Association Honorary Membership.

Selected publications