Lutie Stearns

Most Important Sentence: "[A]n examination of Stearns's writing and activities suggests that it was the third strand that was preeminent in her personal philosophy; the other two were largely means to this end. This dominant strand emphasized the rights of citizens to equal information access as a public good. Stearns was, above all, an advocate for access" (Pawley, 435).

This advocate of access, Lutie Stearns was thrown into the thick of Wisconsin progressive politics around the turn of the century. Such an environment, no doubt, helped further her library crusade. "Between 1896 and 1914, Stearns helped establish 150 free public libraries, 1,400 traveling libraries, and 14 county traveling library systems" (Pawley, 437). These are accomplishments of the sort that would make Melvil Dewey himself blush.

Access to the printed word for Wisconsin rural areas at the turn of the century was important. People who lived in rural Wisconsin areas often had to walk for several miles just to pick up their mail. You can imagine that they likely would not get out to the library very much. As an advocate of access, Stearns also made sure that foreign works in languages common to Wisconsin at the time were also made available.

Though pluralistic politics were necessary for Lutie Stearns to be as successful as she was, she never forgot what the meaning behind her crusade actually was. She knew that access to information was vital to the improvement of Wisconsin society. Her motivations never seemed to be about personal power or even personal vanity. Her crusade appears to have been reward enough in and of itself.