Edward (Ned) Barrett Stanford was born in 1910 in Moorhead, Minnesota. He earned his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College in 1932, his library degree from the University of Illinois in 1934, his M.A. from Williams College (Williamstown, MA) in 1939 and his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1942. Dr. Stanford joined the library staff at the University of Minnesota in 1946 as an assistant librarian. He was promoted to librarian and director in 1951. In 1971, Dr. Stanford resigned his position as director and became a professor in the library school. In 1977, Dr. Stanford retired from the University of Minnesota.
During Dr. Stanford's tenure as director, the University of Minnesota libraries saw tremendous growth. He was instrumental in the construction of Wilson library on the West Bank campus, establishment of the Wangensteen History of Medicine Library (1964), the Manuscript Division, Social Welfare History Archives, and Immigration History Archives (1960s) and the James Ford Bell Library (1952). In 1963, the library was designated as a regional documents depository for U.S. Government publications and MINITEX was established in 1972 to facilitate interlibrary loan within public and academic libraries in the state of Minnesota.
From the guide to the Edward B. Stanford papers, 1960s, (University of Minnesota Libraries. University Archives [uarc])
