This message is from Alice Hudson.------------------Johnnie
 
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>From: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Maud Cole
 
 
     To the map librarian community,
 
     I regret to report the recent death of Maud Cole, from complications
     of a stroke, following a short illness.
 
     When I last talked to her on the phone, a few weeks ago, she has shown
     signs of confusion, unsure of who I was, and having to ask over and
     over. I would say, "Alice, from the Library." She would answer, "Ohhh,
     yes, the Library," and a few minutes later we would repeat the
     question. If she wasn't so sure about me, she was sure about her
     beloved Library.
 
     She had recently moved to a nursing home, and was seeming to adjust to
     her new surroundings when she had the stroke.
 
     I do not have details yet, as I just heard this from another librarian
     on staff here at the NYPL. As soon as I know more, I will post it.
 
     ---
 
     Maude Cole was a beloved friend of the mapping community here in New
     York. She was a frequent visitor to the Map Division on her way to and
     from her exercize class. She believed in keeping active and involved,
     and was a participant in New York Map Society activities up until this
     past year. She hesitated to attend meetings only when the weather was
     bad. Even nighttime meetings did not stop her, until the last year.
 
     She was a constant support to Map Division staff, and we miss her kind
     words for us. She regretted so much, changes in library staffing after
     she retired. She would come back for visits and so many of her fellow
     staff had moved on -- and the new faces were unfamiliar. She felt
     alienated and isolated, and would sadly comment on how she no longer
     knew anyone in the library, except "for just a few." We were lucky, we
     were part of that "few."
 
     In the last few years she had been working hard to clean out her
     apartment--it had become filled with all those rare books and mapping
     treasures that librarians are wont to save: clippings, offprints,
     books in the field, map calendars, map postcards, conference papers,
     framed prints and maps, etc., etc.  On her frequent trips in to
     Manhattan, ostensibly to visit and say hello, she often was able to
     get away with leaving behind for us some map treasure she no longer
     could keep. Our vertical files and bookshelves are all the richer.
 
     She enriched our lives by her love for maps, for people, for her
     colleagues in Rare Books and the Map Division, NYPL. She was a woman
     of deep faith, and I am comforted knowing she is at peace, at rest,
     where she longed to be.
 
     Alice Hudson
     Map Division, NYPL
 
 
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"2"
 
>From: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Maud Cole
 
 
     For those who did not know Maud Cole that well, here is a bit of
     biography culled from the Special Libraries Association, Geography &
     Map Division Bulletin, Sept 1980.
 
     She was a native of Ohio, graduating from the University of Toledo
     with a BA in history. She received her BA in Library Science from the
     University of Michigan. After working at the Library of Congress for
     several years, in 1945 she transferred to the Map Division as a
     reference librarian and map cataloger. In 1952 she moved to the
     American History Division of The New York Public Library, and in 1954
     became the First Assistant in the Rare Book Division, from which she
     retired, as Keeper of Rare Books, in 1977.
 
     She had been active in S.L.A. until recently, and had been a member
     since 1945, participating in both Washington and New York Chapters,
     and chairing the  Geography & Map Division of S.L.A. in 1960-62.
     She was awarded the Division's Honors Award in 1980 for outstanding
     achievement in librarianship since 1934.
 
 
     Maud was also a member of the American Library Association, and
     particularly the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section of the Association
     of College and Research Libraries. She was a member of the New York
     Library Club, the New York Map Society, the Bibliographical Society of
     America, the American Printing History Association and the Society for
     the History of Discoveries.
 
     She died on Friday morning, March 8, and memorial projects are
     pending. I will post these on maps-l and maphist.
 
     Alice Hudson
     Map Division, NYPL