Michael Cart, beloved librarian and author, was a founding member of the governing committee of the Arne Nixon Center for the Study of Children's Literature at California State University, Fresno. He was invited to this position by Michael Gorman, then dean of library services, and John Welty, then president of the university. His wisdom and his leadership for many years shaped the center, as did his donations of literally thousands of books.
Because of his donations, the center has now the largest collection of LBGTQ literature for young people of any library (he said). Michael also gave the center the entire private library of Walter R. Brooks and even Brooks's typewriter. Graphic novelist Eric Shanower designed a special Freddy the Pig book plate for Michael's books. Michael also donated his papers from his career as a librarian, teacher, author, television interviewer, and critic.
He spoke at many conferences at the center and wrote the forward to In the Garden: Essays in Honor of Frances Hodgson Burnett, an anthology of essays published after the center sponsored the first-ever conference about Burnett. And yes, he did convince us to host several meetings of the Friends of Freddy. He was my mentor as a librarian and an author, and he became a dear friend. Even after we both retired, we stayed in close touch, emailing about library and literary issues until the week before he passed away. I miss him so much.
By Angelica Shirley Carpenter, Curator Emerita Arne Nixon Center for the Study of Children's Literature California State University, Fresno
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In honor of the Sesquicentennial next year (150th Anniversary of ALA) in 2026, the Library History Round Table is hosting Librarians We Have Lost, Sesquicentennial Memories -1976-2026. This collage of tributes seeks to honor librarians who died between 1976-2026. The tributes are published to ALA Connect and a digital memorial on LHRT News & Notes.
We invite tributes from anyone about any library worker who passed away between 1976-2026. To submit a tribute, please use the form at https://lhrt.news/librarians-we-have-lost-sesquicentennial-memories-1976-2026-2/
For questions or comments, please reach out to Dr. Kathleen McCook (kmccook@usf.edu) or Brett Spencer (dbs21@psu.edu).
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Brett Spencer
Reference Librarian
Thun Library, Penn State Berks
He/Him/His
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