Inez Pearl Crandle


Inez Pearl Crandle, the youngest daughter of Job Robards Crandle and Martha Rosette (Barnes) Crandle was born 13 Sep 1885 in Canton, Bradford Co., PA. She graduated from Syracuse Library School in 1907 and was a librarian until she retired in 1959. She was the first librarian at the Joseph and Elizabeth Shaw Public Library and a past president of the Pennsylvania Library Association. She was remembered fondly by many of her nieces and nephews for the books that she sent to us at Christmas time. Inez never married but was recognized my many for her passion for books. She died 4 May 1975 in Broomall, Delaware Co., PA and is buried in the East Canton Cemetery, Canton, PA. [Headstone photo, East Canton Cemetery]

Thoughts about Aunt Inez ~ by Janet Benedict Hoffman
"She always sent us books CLASSICS and when she came to visit, there were always stories. She was a super Children's Librarian and we benefited.

Early in our lives she and mother always talked about 'when we went to college' and it never occurred to me that I wouldn't go. She said that she would make a gift towards expenses and 'loan' which would got to the next one who needed and then to mother when all had used. Martha was the 'needy' one after me. That promise was instrumental in my resolving to earn as much as I could during high school.

Because she felt that she had missed many opportunities for good jobs because she did not have a BA degree, only a diploma from Library School, she insisted that I try for a college that "someone had heard of". This was after she knew that I had applied at Keuka which was near home. An aside about the first semester's check - she had sent the check and before I could cash it, her bank failed.(fall of 1929). We ultimately managed.

I first remember her work as being in Mauch Chunk (now Jim Thorpe) where she was the only trained Librarian. From there it was to DuBois, PA, then to Plymouth Meeting PA. where she started the Library. I remember visiting her there where I learned about the Quakers first hand, even attended Quaker Meeting with the family with whom she lived. (Sadly, I haven't gotten over there yet since I have been in the neighborhood). She was in Savannah, GA then to Evansville, Ind. where she was Reference Librarian, but unhappy because she missed the hills of Pennsylvania. She came back to Clearfield where she worked until she retired and from there to Norristown, Wayne Hall and Broomhall. Her experience at Wayne Hall and Broomhall were an eye opener for me, thus the inspiration to find such accommodations.

After her return to PA, she would drive to Corning for part of her vacation and after she gave up the car, someone in the family would get her and return her for time in the summer and at Christmas. She and mother had lots of fun reminiscing. She always wanted her chauffeur to get to Wayne Hall in time for lunch so we could meet her friends. The return trip was special too, we would always to do a round about trip or stop some place she especially wanted to go, (thus my introduction to shopping in Reading.) Sometimes it would be a stop to see some relatives. Martha, who lived in New Jersey visited her often as her health failed. She meant so much to all of us.

Remembrances of Aunt Inez by Ellen Benedict Wilson ~ June 2002
Aunt Inez was known for sending books to us at Christmas. I still have four books which she sent between December 1923 and 1928. One of those books was a Bird Book.

Before Aunt Inez owned a car she would come by train to visit us. She came on one such visit during her summer vacation. My father had an old Ford Touring Car which he drove to the train station to get her. One time he put the top down and drove too fast over a road which was covered with fresh tar. Some tar sprayed into the car and ruined her blouse. Needless to say, she was not too happy with Dad for this incident.

Aunt Inez helped me with my college expenses, too. She loaned me $25.00 per month which I repaid to my mother per Aunt Inez' request. On one of her trips west, she attended my graduation from U.C.L.A. in 1939.

In 1941 Aunt Inez came to visit me in Beaverton, but unfortunately I was not home! I had gone to California to help my sister, Marjorie, who had had a stroke. Howard was left to entertain her, never having met her previously. She had been traveling so we were not able to notify her that I had gone to California.

Two members of our family have followed in Aunt Inez' footsteps to become librarians. My granddaughter, Connie Repplinger, great grand niece of Aunt Inez, has just completed her Masters Degree in Information Science at the University of Illinois and is now working as a children's librarian in Salem, Oregon. Connie's husband, John, also received his Masters from the University of Illinois this spring and is now a science librarian at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon.

Obituary - Inez Crandle, First Shaw Librarian Dies -
Word has been received of the death on May 4, of Miss Inez Crandle, the first librarian at the Joseph and Elizabeth Shaw Public Library and a past president of the Pennsylvania Library Association. Miss Crandle died in the Presbyterian Home at Broomall, of complications resulting from a stroke suffered in February.

Miss Crandle retired from the library profession Sept. 1, 1959, after 20 years of service at the Shaw Library. She moved to Norristown and a few years later entered the Presbyterian Home at Wayne, where she resided until going to Broomall. She came to Clearfield Sept. 1, 1939, three months after construction of the Shaw Library began. She organized the library service and prepared a collection of about 2,600 books for the official opening of the library Jan. 25, 1940. During the 20 years she was at Clearfield, the library’s book stock grew to 18,363 volumes in the main library collection and 14,980 in the county library.

A native of Canton, Pa, Miss Crandle was a graduate of Syracuse University and attended the New York Public Library School which later became the Columbia University Library School. Her first library position was in St. Gabriel’s branch of the New York Public Library which she left to reorganize the Dimmick Memorial Library at Mauch Chunk, the town later renamed Jim Thorpe. She left Mauch Chunk to set up the DuBois Public Library and went from there to Savannah, Ga, where she served as assistance reference librarian at the city’s public library. She later became head of the City Extension Department of the Evansville, Ind. Public Library and served in the position until returning to Pennsylvania to organize the public library at Plymouth Meeting before coming to Clearfield.

In addition to serving as president, she was also secretary and vice president of the Pennsylvania Library Association. While in Clearfield she was a member of the Women’s Club and the Susquehanna Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. At the time of her retirement, Miss Crandle was honored at a dinner given by the Shaw Library’s board of directors. At that time she was praised by board members as a “dedicated person who never quit selling reading to the public and the use of the library as a means of broadening one’s horizons.”

​Dedicated to her profession, Miss Crandle had stipulated that if she accepted the position at Clearfield, she must be given time to attend professional meetings to gain new knowledge that might increase her service as a librarian. This constant quest for new knowledge and the increased proficiency in her work continued throughout her professional career.