Josephson, Aksel Gustav Salomon, 1860-1944

<p>Aksel G. S. Josephson, cataloguer of the John Crerar Library, was born in Upsala [sic], Oct. 2, 1860. His father was J. A. Josephson, musical director at the University of Upsala and one of the famous song composers of Sweden. Mr. Josephson in 1885 established himself as a bookseller in the university town. After twelve years spent in the book trade, during which time he stocked up with a vast quantity of bibliographical knowledge, Mr. Josephson came to the United States and enrolled at the New York State Library School at Albany. His course completed, he obtained a position in 1894, as assistant in the Lenox Library, now a part of the New York Public Library. On March 1, 1896, he assumed his present position of cataloguer of the John Crerar Library in Chicago. On April 27, 1899, Mr. Josephson was married to Lucia Engberg, daughter of the late Jonas Engberg of Chicago. Mr. Josephson is a member of many clubs and societies, chief among which are the Svenska Litteratur-Sallskapet of Upsala, the American Library Association, the Bibliographical Society of America and a member of its council, the City Club of Chicago, the Gutenberg Gesellschaft of Mainz and of the Swedish-American Historical Society. Of this last named society, which came into existence in 1905, Mr. Josephson wsa one of the organizers and was elected its first treasurer and made chairman of its library committee. He is now secretary of the society. The following contributions to bibliographical lore have been made by Mr. Josephson, to wit: Catalogue of Swedish and Finnish Dissertations at Universities and Schools, published at Upsala, 1892-97. List of Bibliographies of Bibliographies (1901); Bibliography of Union Lists of Serials (1906). In a pamphlet issued by him in 1905, entitled, Plan for the Establishment of the Bibliographical Institute, Mr. Josephson interestingly develops his ideas as to the organization, scope and uses of such an institution. (p. 163-164)</p>
<p>Josephson has edited four volumes of the yearbook of the Bibliographical Society of America and to the "Nation" he has contributed notes and reviews of bibliographical works and of notable books from Sweden. (p. 841)</p>

Aksel G.S. Josephson was born in Uppsala, Sweden on October 2, 1860. He emigrated to the U.S. on September 18, 1893 aboard the Augusta Victoria departing from Hamburg, Germany and was naturalized on October 17, 1898. He was a permenant resident of Chicago, Illinois where he lived with his wife Lucia R. and he was employed as a Librarian at the time of his application in 1906.

Author's name appears as Aksel G. S. Josephson.

The first president was Aksel G. S. Josephson, librarian at the John Crerar library in Chicago.

<p>Mother: Hilda Augusta Schram.</p>
<p>Born October 2, 1860 in Uppsala, Sweden.</p>

<p>Axel Gustav Salomon Josephson (1860-1944) was a Swedish-born bookseller-turned-American-immigrant (with native roots in the university town of Uppsala), who became a distinguished public librarian and research bibliographer first in New York City and later, in Chicago. (p. 251)</p>
<p>By July 1894, Josephson was working on a list of Swedish-language books on Swedish history (political, social, and literary) and religious that would be of value to American libraries. In 1894, there was discussion in the publication Library Journal (LJ) arguing against providing materials in languages other than English to library patrons, a position that Josephson countered with his own editorials in LJ. His ideas influenced developments in public-libraries serving Scandinavian populaitons during the late 1800s and early 1900s. (p. 251-255)</p>

Although all these developments served as a nexus for the formation of a bibliographical society, like other organizations the BSA still required the energy and persistence of one individual who willingly assumed the role of catalyst. That self-assumed resonsibility fell to Askel Gustav Solomon Josephson, a Swedish immigrant. Josephson had worked as librarian of Uppsalas Verlandes Arbeitarbibliothek in the early 1890s, but in the summer of 1893 he emigrated to the United States to enroll in the New York State Library School in Albany that fall. He withdrew before completing the program; if attitudes he subsequently expressed about library education are any indication of his reasons for leaving, he probably disliked Dewey's emphasis on technique and preferred the more scholarly training expected of European librarians. Whatever his reasons, how ever, he did bibliographic work for Publisher's Weekly for a while, then became a cataloger at the Lenox Library in New York City. In 1896 he accepted a position as chief cataloger of the recently founded John Crerar Library in Chicago, where he labored for the remainder of his professional life. Josephson was an ambitious fellow eager to make a contribution to his profession, which he thought sadly lacked emphasis on bibliographic scholarship. graphic scholarship. With this in mind he called together several Chicago library colleagues in the summer of 1899 to consider plans for a local bibliographical society...11 October 1899...Twelve days later the Bibliographical Society of Chicago formally organized "1, to encourage and promote bibliographical study and research; 2, to compile and publish special bibliographies"; and "3, to arouse interest in the history of books and libraries." Officers elected included Hastings as president, Mcllvaine as vice-president, and Josephson as secretary. At its inaugural meeting on 8 December 1899, the society voted to compile a report on valuable libraries in the Chicago area, to provide bibliographic descriptions of rare and valuable books in these libraries, and to list incunabula and forward it to John Thomson of the Free Library of Philadelphia, who was compiling an incunabula bibliography in American libraries.

<p>A meeting to discuss the organization of a bibliographical society was called by Mr. Askel G. S. Josephson. It was decided to make an effort to organize a society with the object to further bibliographical research. Mr. Josephson was elected temporary chairman...At the organization meeting held October 23, 1899 at the Newberry Library, Josephson was elected secretary for the Bibliographical Society of Chicago.<p>

Axel Josephson was one of the leading forces in organizing the Swedish Historical Society of America.

<p>Aksel Gustav Salomon Josephson (b. Uppsala, Sweden, October 2, 1860; d. Mobile, Ala., December 12, 1944) was a bookseller in Uppsala before his immigration to the United States in 1893. Chief cataloger at the John Crerar Library, Chicago, 1896–1923, he is regarded as the founder of the Bibliographical Society of America, as well as being the first treasurer of the Swedish Historical Society of America. He contributed book reviews to Arbetaren (New York) and to nonsocialist Swedish newspapers. He is not known to have been a socialist but may well have been a Single-Taxer, for, on his retirement, he went to live at the Henry George community of Fairhope, Alabama.</p>
<p>The Chicago Svenska Bildningsförbundet or, as it was known in English, the Swedish Educational League, was at best a close relative, if not a direct offshoot, of the labor movement. Originally established in 1915 as a lecture series under the sponsorship of the Good Templar Order, it reorganized independently a year later, assuming the name Svenska Studieförbundet (Swedish Study League). Organizers received reinforcement from promoters of popular education in various fields. Among the newcomers were...Aksel G. S. Josephson, librarian with the John Crerar Library, Chicago.</p>

A. G. S. Josephson, Newberry Library is secretary of the Bibliographical Society of Chicago.