Campbell, Jane Maud, 1869-1947

Jane Maud Campbell was born in Liverpool, England, one of seven children of George and Jane Cameron Campbell. When she was twelve, the family moved to the United States, and she attended a private school in Richmond, Virginia. Returning to Great Britain, Campbell graduated from the Ladies' College of Edinburgh University and the Edinburgh School of Cookery and Domestic Economy. Campbell returned to the United States and worked as an assistant at the Free Public Library in Newark, New Jersey. In 1902 she was made head of public libraries in Passaic, New Jersey, and became increasingly concerned with the plight of newly arrived immigrants.

Campbell joined the North American Civic League in New York City, where she taught immigrants about naturalization and their prospects for employment as American citizens. In 1913 she was appointed Educational Director for Work with Aliens of the Massachusetts Library Commission, the first such post in the United States. In 1922 Campbell became head librarian of the Jones Memorial Library, Lynchburg, Virginia. She died in Lynchburg in April 1947.