Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1920-01-21
Nebraska Woman's Enviable
Record In Library War Work
From Tedious Duties Along Mexican Border, Harriet
Long of Madison was Sent to A. E. F. University
At Beaune, France-Later In Charge of Occupied
Area In Germany

New York. Jan. 20.-(Special. y
A Nebraska woman, Miss Harriet
l1ong, now at her home in Madison,
| Neb., is declared by the American
Library association to have made
remarkable record in the library war
| work for the army. Miss Long,
| who recently returned to America
after almost a year of overseas
service, served in several widely
separated fields and achieved dis
tinction in each.
After a period of arduous service
on the Mexican border, she was
sent overseas by the American Ii
brary association, TO become as
sistant Librarian at the "Doughboy
university" run for the A. E. F.
| men at Beaune, France. Last June,
when rehabilitation resulted in the
closing of the university, she was
sent to Coblenz. There she was at
| first assistant and later librarian in
charge of the Coblenz library, the
headquarters for the service of the
| American Library association to the
entire occupied area. Miss Long
was on post at the Coblenz library
from June until December, 1919,
when she yielded to the call of
home, and secured her release from
her long period Of duty.
On the Mexican Border.
Early in 1918, Miss Long left her
| work as librarian of the Brumback
| library, Van Vert, O., to enter the
library war service. Her first as
signnent was on the Mexican Dor
der organizing a library system to
satisfy the reading demands of the
federal troops engaged in the Dor
der patrol. She established head
quarters at San Antonio. About the
time Foch was planning the great
| offensive that materialized in mid
summer, 1918, Miss Long was tour
ing the military posts of the
Brownsville district along the Rio
Grande, trying with the aid of
books to ease the lot of regular
army soldiers unfortunate enough
to be sent to the border when there
was a real fight overseas.
Little was heard of Mexican bor-
der troubles during the war, and the
sad lot of these soldiers, ymarooned
at hot, sandy outposts has almost
escaped note. On her first trip UP
the Rio Grande, through desert
country, Miss Long found some
members of the army detail at
Point Isabel, jumping off place"
who had been there for two years
without reading matter or recrea-
| ton.
sand and mesquite are scarcely
adequate to keep ones soul from
starvation, and yet that has been
their daily diet" she wrote.
900 Readers At All Hours.
Miss Long won the support of
| Colonel Slocum, commanding Fort
Brown, the headquarters of the
Brownsville district, and with his
| helpful cooperation managed to get
books to every post in the district.
Her work effectively removed the
condition which had led troops DUR
ing the Mexican border trouble of
| 1916 to follow railroad tracks in the
hope of finding reading matter
dropped from passing trains.
Overseas at Beaune university,
Miss Long came into intimate ac-
quaintance with the unique and
thoroughly American educational
experiment. Here the soldiers on
leave from their outfit studied bust.
ness and technical courses, law.
medicine, music, engineering, letters
and many other subjects. The IL
brary. comprising $4,000 volumes,
was in charge Of L. L. Dickerson,
Librarian of Grinnell college, Iowa.
Without the library, the univer-
sity could not have undertaken its
task. In it could be found 900 read
ers and students at practically any
time during the day from 8 in the
morning until 9 in the evening. Miss
Longs work here was so valuable
that when Rehabilitation closed the
university and the occupied area of
Germany became the Chief zone OF