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.

North Carolina Negro Library Association

The North Carolina Negro Library Association was founded in 1934 by Mollie Huston Lee. The association provided support and professional networking for African American librarians in North Carolina. In 1943, the North Carolina Negro Library Association became a chapter of the American Library Association. The organization merged with the North Carolina Library Association in 1955.

Update 11/06/2012:

The North Carolina Negro Library Association had its own publication, Library Service Review. Albert P. Marshall served as the publication's first editor (at that time, Mr. Marshall worked at Winston-Salem Teachers College -- now called Winston-Salem State University). Members of the editorial board included Mollie Huston Lee, Constance Hill Marteena, Nell Wright (later Nell Wright Alford), Anne Robinson, Ester F. Smith, and Ann Johnson. Benjamin F. Smith of the North Carolina College Library School (now the North Carolina Central University School of Library and Information Science) was the publication's business and circulation manager.

Past presidents of the North Carolina Negro Library Association included Constance Hill Marteena, Thelma Nelson, Joyce McClendon, and Mollie Huston Lee.

Update 12/09/2012:
See related post: Constance Hill Marteena: Hampton Institute Library School Graduate and President of the North Carolina Negro Library Association.

Update 12/11/2012:
Mary Hairston of the George Moses Horton Branch of the Forsyth County Public Library (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) chaired the committee responsible for compiling the handbook for the North Carolina Negro Library Association (the handbook was published in 1940).
See: Lee, Mollie Huston. "Development of Negro Libraries in North Carolina." North Carolina Libraries 3.2 (1944): 1-3, 7. Print. 
 
See related post:
George Moses Horton Branch of the Forsyth County Public Library (Winston-Salem, North Carolina).

Update 2/26/2013:
Johnson C. Smith University (Charlotte, North Carolina) has in its digital collection a group photo of the attendees of the 1955 Conference of the North Carolina Negro Library Association:

http://cdm15170.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15170coll3/id/99

Update 04/13/2013:
See related post: Annette Hoage Phinazee: Dean, Professor, Author, and Librarian.

Sources: Marshall, Albert P. "North Carolina Negro Library Association." Handbook of Black Librarianship. Ed. E.J. Josey and Marva L. DeLoach. 2nd ed. Lanham: Scarecrow, 2000. 63-68. Print. ; Speller, Benjamin F. and James R. Jarrell. "Profiles of Pioneers: Selected North Carolina Black Librarians." The Black Librarian in the Southeast: Reminiscences, Activities, Challenges. Ed. Annette L. Phinazee. Durham: NCCU School of Library Science, 1980. 74-75, 78, 80. Print. ; Valentine, Patrick. "Mollie Huston Lee: Founder of Raleigh's Black Public Library." North Carolina Libraries 56.1 (1998): 23-26. Print. ; "Lee, Mollie Huston (1907-1982)." Black America: A State-by-State Historical Encyclopedia. Ed. Alton Hornsby, Jr. Vol. I. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Greenwood, 2011. 613-614. Print. ; Library Service Review 1.1 (1948); Library Service Review 1.2 (1948).