ALA's Past Presidents
Names, images, and service dates for ALA's Past Presidents.
This page contains links to archived information about ALA's Past Presidents. Please view this Pinterest board from American Libraries for a pictorial listing of the all of the past ALA Presidents.
| Photo | Name | Years of service | Death date |
|---|---|---|---|
.jpg) |
Lessa Kanani'opua Pelayo-Lozada | 2022-2023 | |
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Patricia "Patty" Wong | 2021-2022 | |
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Julius C. Jefferson, Jr | 2020-2021 | |
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Wanda Kay Brown | 2019-2020 | |
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Loida Garcia-Febo | 2018-2019 | |
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James "Jim" Neal | 2017-2018 | |
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Julie B. Todaro | 2016-2017 | |
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Sari Feldman | 2015-2016 | |
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Courtney Young | 2014-2015 | |
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Barbara Stripling | 2013-2014 | |
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Maureen Sullivan | 2012-2013 | |
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Molly Raphael | 2011-2012 | |
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Roberta A. Stevens | 2010-2011 | |
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Camila Alire | 2009-2010 | |
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Jim Rettig | 2008-2009 | August 17, 2022 |
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Loriene Roy | 2007-2008 | |
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Leslie Burger | 2006-2007 | |
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Michael Gorman | 2005–2006 | |
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Carol A. Brey-Casiano | 2004–2005 | |
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Carla D. Hayden | 2003–2004 | |
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Maurice J. (Mitch) Freedman | 2002–2003 | |
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John W. Berry | 2001–2002 | |
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Nancy Kranich | 2000–2001 | |
| Sarah Ann Long | 1999–2000 | ||
| Ann Symons | 1998–1999 | ||
| Barbara J. Ford | 1997–1998 | ||
| Mary R. Somerville | 1996–1997 | ||
| Betty J. Turock | 1995-1996 | ||
| Arthur Curley | 1994-1995 | April 1, 1998 | |
| Hardy R. Franklin | 1993-1994 | August 21, 2004 | |
| Marilyn L. Miller | 1992-1993 | May 22, 2014 | |
| Patricia G. Schuman | 1991-1992 | ||
| Richard M. Dougherty | 1990-1991 | ||
| Patricia Wilson Berger | 1989-1990 | March 27, 2011 | |
| F. William Summers | 1988-1989 | August 12, 2016 | |
| Margaret E. Chisholm | 1987-1988 | November 20, 1999 | |
| Regina Minudri | 1986-1987 | June 18, 2021 | |
| Beverly P. Lynch | 1985-1986 | ||
| E. J. Josey | 1984-1985 | July 3, 2009 | |
| Brooke E. Sheldon | 1983-1984 | February 11, 2013 | |
| Carol A. Nemeyer | 1982-1983 | June 30, 2008 | |
| Elizabeth W. (Betty) Stone | 1981-1982 | March 6, 2002 | |
| Peggy A. Sullivan | 1980-1981 | April 13, 2020 | |
| Thomas J. Galvin | 1979-1980 | February 18, 2004 | |
| Russell Shank | 1978-1979 | June 26, 2012 | |
| Eric Moon | 1977-1978 | July 31, 2016 | |
| Clara Stanton Jones | July 1976-1977 | September 30, 2012 | |
| Clara Stanton Jones (Acting President) | April 11-July 22, 1976 | September 30, 2012 | |
| Allie Beth Martin | 1975-April 1976 | April 11, 1976 | |
| Edward G. Holley | 1974-1975 | February 18, 2010 | |
| Jean E. Lowrie | 1973-1974 | November 9, 2014 | |
| Katherine Laich | 1972-1973 | November 16, 1992 | |
| Keith Doms | 1971-1972 | September 26, 2009 | |
| Lillian M. Bradshaw | 1970-1971 | February 9, 2010 | |
| William S. Dix | 1969-1970 | February 22, 1978 | |
| Roger McDonough | 1968-1969 | December 2, 2001 | |
| Foster E. Mohrhardt | 1967-1968 | June 7, 1992 | |
| Mary V. Gaver | 1966-1967 | December 31, 1991 | |
| Robert Vosper | 1965-1966 | May 14, 1994 | |
| Edwin Castagna | 1964-1965 | November 26, 1983 | |
| Frederick H. Wagman | 1963-1964 | November 30, 1994 | |
| James E. Bryan | 1962-1963 | May 10, 2007 | |
| Florrinell F. Morton | 1961-1962 | January 1990 | |
| Frances Lander Spain | 1960-1961 | January 20, 1999 | |
| Benjamin E. Powell | 1959-1960 | March 11, 1981 | |
| Emerson Greenaway | 1958-1959 | April 1990 | |
| Lucile M. Morsch | 1957-1958 | July 3, 1972 | |
| Ralph R. Shaw | 1956-1957 | October 17, 1972 | |
| John S. Richards | 1955-1956 | December 1979 | |
| L. Quincy Mumford | 1954-1955 | August 15, 1982 | |
| Flora Belle Ludington | 1953-1954 | March 23, 1967 | |
| Robert Bingham Downs | 1952-1953 | February 24, 1991 | |
| Loleta Dawson Fyan | 1951-1952 | April 1990 | |
| Clarence R. Graham | 1950-1951 | January 28, 1989 | |
| Milton E. Lord | 1949-1950 | February 12, 1985 | |
| Errett Weir McDiarmid | 1948-1949 | April 27, 2000 | |
| Paul North Rice | 1947-1948 | April 16, 1967 | |
| Mary U. Rothrock | 1946-1947 | January 30, 1976 | |
| Ralph A. Ulveling | 1945-1946 | March 21, 1980 | |
| Carl Vitz | 1944-1945 | January 28, 1981 | |
| Althea H. Warren | 1943-1944 | December 21, 1958 | |
| Keyes D. Metcalf | 1942-1943 | November 3, 1983 | |
| Charles Harvey Brown | 1941-1942 | January 19, 1960 | |
| Essae Martha Culver | 1940-1941 | January 2, 1973 | |
| Ralph Munn | 1939-1940 | January 22, 1975 | |
| Milton James Ferguson | 1938-1939 | October 23, 1954 | |
| Harrison Warwick Craver | 1937-1938 | July 26, 1951 | |
| Malcom Glenn Wyer | 1936-1937 | December 31, 1965 | |
| Louis Round Wilson | 1935-1936 | December 9, 1979 | |
| Charles H. Compton | 1934-1935 | March 17, 1966 | |
| Gratia A. Countryman | 1933-1934 | July 26, 1953 | |
| Harry Miller Lydenberg | 1932-1933 | April 16, 1960 | |
| Josephine Adams Rathbone | 1931-1932 | May 17, 1941 | |
| Adam Strohm | 1930-1931 | October 30, 1951 | |
| Andrew Keogh | 1929-1930 | February 14, 1953 | |
| Linda A. Eastman | 1928-1929 | April 5, 1963 | |
| Carl B. Roden | 1927-1928 | October 25, 1956 | |
| George H. Locke | 1926-1927 | January 28, 1937 | |
| Charles F. D. Belden | 1925-1926 | October 23, 1931 | |
| Herman H. B. Meyer | 1924-1925 | January 16, 1937 | |
| Judson Toll Jennings | 1923-1924 | February 8, 1948 | |
| George Burwell Utley | 1922-1923 | October 4, 1946 | |
| Azariah Smith Root | 1921-1922 | October 2, 1927 | |
| Alice S. Tyler | 1920-1921 | April 18, 1944 | |
| Chalmers Hadley | 1919-1920 | May 11, 1958 | |
| William Warner Bishop | 1918-1919 | February 19, 1955 | |
| Thomas Lynch Montgomery | 1917-1918 | October 1, 1929 | |
| Walter Lewis Brown | 1916-1917 | October 16, 1931 | |
| Mary Wright Plummer | 1915-1916 | September 21, 1916 | |
| Hiller Crowell Wellman | 1914-1915 | February 3, 1956 | |
| Edwin Hatfield Anderson | 1913-1914 | April 29, 1947 | |
| Henry Eduard Legler | 1912-1913 | September 13, 1917 | |
| Theresa West Elmendorf | 1911-1912 | September 4, 1932 | |
| James Ingersoll Wyer | 1910-1911 | November 1, 1955 | |
| Nathaniel Dana Carlile | 1909-1910 | November 25, 1927 | |
| Charles Henry Gould | 1908-1909 | July 30, 1919 | |
| Arthur Elmore Bostwick | 1907-1908 | February 13, 1942 | |
| Clement Walker Andrews | 1906-1907 | November 20, 1930 | |
| Frank Pierce Hill | 1905-1906 | August 28, 1941 | |
| Ernest Cushing Richardson | 1904-1905 | June 3, 1939 | |
| Herbert Putnam | 1903-1904 | August 14, 1955 | |
| James Kendall Hosmer | 1902-1903 | May 18, 1927 | |
| John Shaw Billings | 1901-1902 | March 11, 1913 | |
| Henry James Carr | 1900-1901 | May 21, 1929 | |
| Reuben Gold Thwaites | 1899-1900 | October 22, 1913 | |
| William Coolidge Lane | 1898-1899 | March 18, 1931 | |
| Herbert Putnam | Jan.-Aug.1898 | August 14, 1955 | |
| Justin Winsor | July-Oct.1897 | October 22, 1897 | |
| William Howard Brett | 1896-1897 | August 24, 1918 | |
| John Cotton Dana | 1895-1896 | July 21, 1929 | |
| Henry Munson Utley | 1894-1895 | February 16, 1917 | |
| Josephus Nelson Larned | 1893-1894 | August 15, 1913 | |
| Melvil Dewey | 1892-1893 | December 26, 1931 | |
| William Isaac Fletcher* | 1891-1892 | June 6, 1917 | |
| K. August Linderfelt* | Oct. 1891-May 1892 | March 18, 1900 | |
| Samuel Swett Green | July-Nov. 1891 | December 8, 1918 | |
| Melvil Dewey | 1890-July 1891 | December 26, 1931 | |
| Frederick Morgan Crunden | 1889-1890 | October 28, 1911 | |
| Charles Ammi Cutter | 1887-1889 | September 8, 1903 | |
| William Frederick Poole | 1885-1887 | March 1, 1894 | |
| Justin Winsor | 1876-1885 | October 22, 1897 |
Carol A. Brey-Casiano
Carla D. Hayden
2003–2004
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* Mr. Fletcher is listed as serving as President 1891-92 since on May 21, 1892, the Executive Committee accepted the resignation of K. August Linderfelt who was elected in October 1891, with the stipulation that his name would be expunged from the presidential rolls. Please see Executive Board minutes cumulated index, volume 47, or reach out to the ALA Archives.
