Carney, Frank, 1861-1949

Frank Carney (1861-1949) was an employee of the Harvard College Library from the time he was thirteen until his retirement at the age of seventy. Carney was an amateur photographer and enjoyed an active social and cultural life outside of his work.

Frank Carney was born in County Tyrone, Ireland on September 20, 1861. He came to the United States as a boy, and started work as an errand boy and stack assistant at the Harvard College Library, Gore Hall, in May of 1875. In 1879, after several years of working in the Circulation Department, Carney began working in the Shelf Department, assisting G. F. Arnold. Arnold had been appointed Curator of the Shelf Department in 1878, marking the beginning of the department. Following Arnold's retirement in 1882, the Shelf Department was turned over to Carney, first under the direction of William Coolidge Lane, then under Tillinghast. In 1893, Carney was appointed Assistant in Charge of Shelves for 1892-1893. He was re-appointed in the fall of 1893, and given an appointment without limit of time as Assistant in Charge of Shelves in 1895.

On Sept. 1, 1911 Carney was appointed Superintendent of the Buildings of the College Library. Carney was praised as the hero of the move from Gore Hall into the newly constructed Widener Library for his work from 1912 to 1915. Frank Carney celebrated the completion of fifty years in the service of the library on May 1, 1925. It was not until 1932, however, that Carney retired from Widener Library and moved to Lake Boone, in Stow, Massachusetts.

Carney enjoyed an active social and cultural life outside of his hours in the Library. He frequently attended theatrical productions in Boston and Cambridge, and often took time to critique the performances. Carney was also an amateur photographer and experimented with processes and the hand coloring of photographs. Carney regularly took summer vacation trips to various New England locations. In the summer of 1891, he took a trip to Europe. As well as making a visit to his homeland of Ireland, Carney traveled through England, Scotland and much of Europe. Carney's travels continued in 1925 when he took a trip across Canada and the United States. Traveling by train and boat, Carney visited the scenic parks of the western United States.

Carney enjoyed outdoor activities throughout his life. He was a member of the Cambridge Bicycle Club in the 1880s. In 1922, at the age 61, he became a member of the Appalachian Mountain Club and was an active member through 1932. He joined the Club on many of their annual trips: Washington's Birthday snowshoeing trips to New Hampshire, autumn trips to the Saguenay River, Christmas trips to Vermont. The trips were filled with activity, and occasional adventure. On one of his first trips with the AMC, Carney and two women were reported lost in a blizzard. Carney was later commended by the President of the AMC for his efforts to help the women. In 1929, Carney was lost overnight on AMC trip to the Saguenay River.

Carney continued to be an active man into his retirement. In February and March of 1941 he joined a local Stow family on an automobile trip to Florida, traveling on Skyline Drive and through the Great Smoky Mountains. Frank Carney died at Lake Boone, Stow, Massachusetts on December 7, 1949.