Annette Hoage Phinazee: Dean, Professor, Author, and Librarian

Annette Hoage Phinazee (1920-1983), a 1939 graduate of Fisk University, was the first African American to earn a PhD in library science from Columbia University (she received her degree in 1961). In addition, she was a professor and instructor at the Atlanta University Library School in Atlanta, Georgia (1946-1957, 1963-1969) [note: Atlanta University is now Clark-Atlanta University]; once served as dean of the North Carolina Central University School of Library Science (1970-1983); and was the first African American president of the North Carolina Library Association.

A native of Orangeburg, South Carolina, Ms. Phinazee was born Alethia Annette Lewis in 1920 and was the daughter of William C. and Alethia Lewis. She was the widow of George L. Hoage. She later married Joseph Phinazee (1916-1991), a native of Georgia, World War II veteran, and former employee of the Biology Department of North Carolina Central University.

After graduating from Fisk University, Ms. Phinazee earned a Bachelor of Library Science (BLS) in 1941 and a Master of Library Science (MLS) in 1948 from the University of Illinois. She was a librarian at Talladega College in Talladega, Alabama (1941-1942); Lincoln University of Jefferson City, Missouri (1942-1944); and Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois (1957-1962). In addition, Ms. Phinazee was the editor of The Black Librarian in the Southeast: Reminiscences, Activities, Challenges which was published in 1980. Annette Lewis Hoage Phinazee passed away in 1983 in Durham, North Carolina.

Update 04/13/2013:

See related posts: North Carolina Negro Library Association ; Constance Hill Marteena: Hampton Institute Library School Graduate and President of the North Carolina Negro Library Association ; and George Moses Horton Branch of the Forsyth County Public Library (Winston-Salem, North Carolina).

Sources: Dawson, Alma. "Celebrating African American Librarians and Librarianship." Library Trends 49.1 (2000): 60. Print. ; "Yerby Shows the Way." Jet 45.16 (1974): 4. Print. ; Speller, Benjamin F. "Alethia Annette Lewis Hoage Phinazee (1920-1983)." Dictionary of American Library Biography. Ed. Donald G. Davis. Vol. 3. Westport: Libraries Unlimited, 2003. 173-174. Print. ; The Black Librarian in the Southeast: Reminiscences, Activities, Challenges. Ed. Annette L. Phinazee. Durham: NCCU School of Library Science, 1980. Print. ; McAllister-Harper, D., Virginia Purefoy Jones, and Mary Beth Schell. "Annette Lewis Phinazee: Visionary, Cataloger, Educator." Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 25.2 (1998): 227-241. Print. ; "Annette Lewis Phinazee." North Carolina, Deaths, 1931-1994. FamilySearch.org, n.d.Web. 13 Apr. 2013. ; "Joseph Phinazee." North Carolina, Deaths, 1931-1994. FamilySearch.org, n.d.Web. 13 Apr. 2013. ; "Joseph Phinazee." United States Social Security Death Index. FamilySearch.org, n.d.Web. 13 Apr. 2013. ; "Joseph Phinazee." United States, World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946. FamilySearch.org, n.d.Web. 13 Apr. 2013. ; Phinazee, Annette Hoage and Casper L. Jordan. "Centralized Library Purchases and Technical Processing for Six Colleges in Alabama and Mississippi: A Report." College and Research Libraries 30.4 (1969): 369-370. Print.