Science Librarianship in Colonial Philippines: Mary Polk and the Philippine Bureau of Science Library, 1903-1924

Authors

Bradley Brazzeal, Mississippi State UniversityFollow

Abstract

The Spanish-American War of 1898 ushered in decades of American rule in the Philippines. American colonial administrators established a bureaucracy that included the Bureau of Government Laboratories, later known as the Bureau of Science, which would serve as a central laboratory and also conduct research in the biological sciences, chemical sciences, ethnology, and more. A crucial component of the work of the Bureau was its library, which was headed from 1903 to 1924 by Mary Polk. This article is a study of Polk, the environment in which she worked, and her lasting impact on Philippine librarianship.

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

First Page

154

Last Page

171

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1080/0194262X.2020.1864568

Publication Date

1-20-2021

Spatial Coverage

Philippines

Temporal Coverage

1903-1924

College

University Libraries

Keywords

library history, Mary Polk, Philippine Bureau of Science

Disciplines

Library and Information Science

Recommended Citation

Brazzeal, Bradley, "Science Librarianship in Colonial Philippines: Mary Polk and the Philippine Bureau of Science Library, 1903-1924" (2021). University Libraries Publications and Scholarship. 27.
https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/ul-publications/27