death_date death_place birth_place birth_date image article_title name occupation
26 july 1953 duluth , minnesota hastings , minnesota november 26 , 1866 gratia alta countryman.jpg gratia countryman
 gratia countryman librarian
gratia countryman

gratia alta countryman -lrb- pronounced gray-sha -rrb- -lrb- november 26 , 1866 -- july 26 , 1953 -rrb- was a nationally-known librarian who led the minneapolis public library from 1904 to 1936 .
she was the daughter of immigrant farmers alta and levi countryman .
she pioneered many ways to make the library more accessible and user-friendly to all of the city 's residents , regardless of age or economic position .
gratia alta countryman was called the `` first lady of minneapolis '' and the `` jane addams of the libraries . ''
due to her philosophy of outreach , collections and reading rooms were established in such places as minneapolis fire halls , factories , hospitals , and an open-air reading area in gateway park .
gratia countryman was a capable leader who , over her 32 years as head librarian , helped increase the library 's scope and reach exponentially .
she oversaw the building of 12 branches and a mobile library truck , she and her staff added over 500,000 volumes to the already substantial catalog , the programs she developed encouraged children to read , adolescents and young adults to continue their education , and helped adults find and hold jobs during times of war , recession and depression .
throughout her career countryman not only belonged to various civil and social organizations but she was also the president and founder of some as well .
gratia never married but in may 1917 she took in a homeless boy named wellington wilson , and later was awarded guardianship of him .
this was a bold move for an unmarried woman of the times .
wellington wilson was so happy that he later changed his name to wellington countryman .
he eventually married and had a daughter whom he named alta countryman after his adoptive mother .
the countrymans lived in chicago , illinois , and wellington died in 1997 .
gratia countryman 's eulogy summed up her life perfectly , `` in her youth a library was a sacred precinct for guarding the treasures of thought , to be entered only by the scholar and the student ... her crusading zeal carried the book to every part of her city and county , to the little child , the factory worker , the farmer , the businessman , the hospital patient , the blind and the old . ''
