Constance Hill Marteena: Hampton Institute Library School Graduate and President of the North Carolina Negro Library Association

Constance Hill Marteena, a 1933 graduate of the Hampton Institute Library School, was president of the North Carolina Negro Library Association from 1952 until 1954 (note: Hampton Institute is now Hampton University). She received her master's degree in library science from the University  of Chicago in 1946.

Born August 24, 1897 in Richmond, Virginia, Ms. Marteena was the daughter of Reubin and Irene Hill, and the wife of Jerald Milton Marteena (Mr. Marteena once served as Dean of Engineering at North Carolina A & T State University; Marteena Hall, located on the university's campus, is named for him).

In addition, Ms. Marteena was a librarian at North Carolina A & T State University (1929-1937) and at Bennett College (1937-1967), both in Greensboro, North Carolina.  She also served on the editorial board of Library Service Review, the bulletin of the North Carolina Negro Library Association. Ms. Marteena was an author as well:

Marteena, Constance Hill. The Lengthening Shadow of a Woman: A Biography of Charlotte Hawkins Brown. Hicksville: Exposition, 1977. Print.

Marteena, Constance H. "Teaching the Student to Help Himself." Library Service Review 1.1 (1948): 8-10. Print.

Marteena, Constance H. A Bibliographic Technique Illustrated in the Compilation of a Selective Guide to the Literature of Afro-American Women of Achievement. Chicago: University of Chicago, Graduate School, 1946. Print.


In 1934, Ms. Marteena became one of six charter members of the Beta Iota Omega Chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA) Sorority. She passed away on December 29, 1978.

The Thomas F. Holgate Library of Bennett College has a digital collection relating to Ms. Marteena: http://holgatedigitallibrary.bennett.edu/collections/

Update 12/09/2012:

See related post: North Carolina Negro Library Association.

Sources: Lee, Mollie Huston. "North Carolina Negro Library Association, 1935-54." Library Review 2 (1955): 10-32. Print. ; "Constance Marteena." U.S. Social Security Death Index. FamilySearch.org, n.d.Web. 14 Feb. 2012. ; "Constance Marteena." North Carolina Deaths, 1931-1994. FamilySearch.org., n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2012. ; 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. 81-82. Print. ; Speller, Benjamin F. "Constance Hill Marteena." Notable Black American Women. Ed. Jessie Carney Smith. Book II. Detroit: Gale Research, 1996. 433-434. Print. ; A Directory of Negro Graduates of Accredited Library Schools, 1900-1936. Washington, D.C.: Columbia Civic Library Association, 1937. 17. Print. ; "Our Contributors." Library Service Review  1.2 (1948): 5. Print. ; "Editorial Board." Library Service Review 1.1 (1948): [3]. Print. ; "Beta Iota Omega Chapter History." Beta Iota Omega Chapter, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, Charted in 1934 - Greensboro, North Carolina. betaiotaomega.org, 2012. Web. 5 Nov. 2012. ; "Jerald Marteena." U.S. Social Security Death Index. FamilySearch.org, n.d.Web. 09 Dec. 2012. ; "Jerald Milton Marteena." North Carolina Deaths, 1931-1994. FamilySearch.org., n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2012. ; Marteena, Constance H. "Teaching the Student to Help Himself." Library Service Review 1.1 (1948): 8-10. Print. ; Moore, Richard. "Mrs. Marteena Leaves $120, 371 to A&T Unit." The Afro-American (Baltimore, Md.) 23 Aug. 1980: 1. 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).