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
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