https://www.post-journal.com/life/features/2019/07/controversial-founder-of-lake-placid-club-melville-dewey-taken-off-top-library-award/Original title:
Controversial Founder Of Lake Placid Club, Melville Dewey, Taken Off Top Library Awardby Elizabeth Izzo, July 21, 2019
The name of Melville Dewey, creator of the Dewey Decimal System and the Lake Placid Club, has been stripped from a memorial medal given out by the American Library Association.
The decision to remove his name was handed down by the American Library Association Council at the annual ALA Conference in Washington, D.C., on June 23.
In its resolution to rename the award, the council cited allegations of anti-Semitism, racism and Dewey’s “numerous inappropriate physical advances toward women he worked with and wielded professional power over.â€
Some of those unwanted advances happened at ALA functions.
“During the 1906 ALA conference there was a movement to censure Dewey after four women came forward to accuse him of sexual impropriety, and he was ostracized from the organization for decades,†the resolution reads. “The behavior demonstrated for decades by Dewey does not represent the stated fundamental values of ALA in equity, diversity and inclusion.â€
Dewey was among the ALA’s original founders.
(excerpt)