Early Life
Mary Ahern was born on October 1, 1860 on a farm in Marion County, Indiana. Her parents, William and Mary, were Irish immigrants. When Mary was 10 they moved to Spencer, Indiana where Mary went to high school and graduated in 1878. Next she went to Central Normal College in Danville, Indiana. Her first jobs were as a public school teacher in Bloomfield, Spencer and Peru, Indiana. She became the Assistant State Librarian of Indiana in 1889. There she cataloged the state library and then she was elected State Librarian by the Indiana Legislature from 1893-1895. She lost this position when the political party in power changed. Mary’s response was to fight for change, not for her, but for future librarians-she convinced the politicians to make this position one not tied to politics but instead place it under the State Board of Education.
Read more about this topic: Mary Eileen Ahern
Famous quotes containing the words early life, early and/or life:
“... goodness is of a modest nature, easily discouraged, and when much elbowed in early life by unabashed vices, is apt to retire into extreme privacy, so that it is more easily believed in by those who construct a selfish old gentleman theoretically, than by those who form the narrower judgments based on his personal acquaintance.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)
“Probably more than youngsters at any age, early adolescents expect the adults they care about to demonstrate the virtues they want demonstrated. They also tend to expect adults they admire to be absolutely perfect. When adults disappoint them, they can be critical and intolerant.”
—The Lions Clubs International and the Quest Nation. The Surprising Years, I, ch.4 (1985)
“A serious problem in America is the gap between academe and the mass media, which is our culture. Professors of humanities, with all their leftist fantasies, have little direct knowledge of American life and no impact whatever on public policy.”
—Camille Paglia (b. 1947)