Born in 1832, Theresa Elmendorf was raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where she became a library worker in 1877 for the Young Men's Association of Milwaukee. She started at Milwaukee Public Library soon after and worked her way up to Deputy Librarian and finally Librarian until 1896 when she, at age 41, married Henry Livingston Elmendorf, also a librarian as well as Vice President of the American Library Association. They traveled to London and then to Buffalo, NY, where Henry Elmendorf took the position of librarian of Buffalo Public Library. It would seem during this time that Theresa Elmendorf dropped out of her career but she actually remained quite active in the library profession and worked on many projects, including compiling the ''Descriptive Catalogue of the Gluck Collection of Manuscripts and Autographs in the Buffalo Public Library'' (most notable in this collection was Mark Twain's ''Huckleberry Finn'' manuscript), as well as being editor for the ALA's ''Catalogu of Books for Small Libraries'', and author of ''Classroom Libraries for Public Schools'' (4th ed.).

Theresa Elmendorf became "employed" once again when her husband died in 1906 and the Board of Trustees of the Buffalo Public Library, where Henry Elmendorf had been employed until his death, named Theresa vice-librarian. She remained in that position till she retired in 1926. In those years up to her retirement, she was a member of the ALA Council. In 1895, she was elected vice-president. Then in 1911, she was elected president of the ALA, the first woman ever to be nominated for the position.

During the years following her presidency and her retirement from librarianship, Theresa Elemendorf wrote, edited and published many bibliographies and reading lists, including some specifically on poets and poetry and the United States. She worked on these until her death in 1932.

Sources:

Rooney, Paul M. "Elmendorf, Theresa Hubbell West." ''Dictionary of American Library Biography''. Littleton, Co. Libraries Unlimited, Inc., 1978: 159-160.

Garrison, Dee. ''Apostles of Culture: The Public Librarian and American Culture''. Madison, WI. University of Wisconsin Press, 2003.

Compiled by by Lia V.