Melvil Dewey, creator of the Dewey Decimal System of library classification. This advocate of spelling reform changed his name from Melville to Melvil to avoid unnecessary letters.
Once again for you librarians in the back, the creator of the Dewey Decimal System was totally hot and didn’t take crap from silent letters.
Submitted by childhoodoutfits
Too bad he was also a sexist.
Melvil Dewey is that bro in your high school gym class that makes fun of you for using the word diphthong. He then goes on to graduate from an Ivy League school thanks to a high school crew scholarship. You see him again in a bar seven years later and he has red eyes and a beer gut. He works in “finance” and says he thinks he knows you from somewhere. You roll your eyes and get back to your nachos. He is pretty but boring.
If you’re looking to date a 19th century librarian, might I suggest John Vance Cheney instead?
First off, Cheney’s beard blows away Dewey’s hipster ‘stache.
John Vance Cheney was a librarian and a romantic poet. He expanded the early San Francisco Public Library and organized the first ever west coast conference of the ALA. He later ran the Newberry Library in Chicago until he retired. His heart was broken when his first wife left him for a sex cult — that she founded. However, with his second wife, he toured Europe and made a point of visiting all the great continental libraries.
He also gets bonus points for not being a creep and a sexual predator, as Melvil Dewey was.
A crush-worthy 21st century librarian recommends a crush-worthy 19th century librarian to love instead of Melville Dewey. This is why I love my dash.
I’m a fan of Sam Walter Foss myself since he worked at Somerville Public Library, was instrumental in founding the West Somerville branch in Davis Square, and had time to write a ton of poetry.
“…let me live by the side of the road / And be a friend to man.”
If we are talking about sexy male librarians in history can I bring your attention to:
Casanova. THE sexy male librarian in history. He is known for being a womanizer, yes, but as far as my reading shows it was consensual and happy. To crib shamelessly from his wikipedia page, Casanova believed that “alcohol and violence were not proper tools of seduction. Instead, attentiveness and small favors should be employed to soften a woman’s heart, but ‘a man who makes known his love by words is a fool.’ Verbal communication is essential—’without speech, the pleasure of love is diminished by at least two-thirds’—but words of love must be implied, not boldly proclaimed.”
This is where we start up My Daguerreotype Librarian, right?
