Breedlove, Joseph Penn, 1874-1955

Breedlove was appointed Librarian of Trinity College in 1898 and oversaw the growth of the libraries after Trinity expanded to become Duke University. He served as Librarian until 1939 when he was named Librarian Emeritus.

From the description of Joseph P. Breedlove papers, 1913-1950. (Duke University Library). WorldCat record id: 162128747

Joseph P. Breedlove was born July 15, 1874 in Granville, N.C., to John Henry and Susan Caroline Breedlove. A descendant of John Penn, one of North Carolina's signers of the Declaration of Independence, Breedlove attended Horner's Military School in Oxford, N.C. He went on to the University of North Carolina in 1894, but transferred after his freshman year to Trinity College, where he received his undergraduate degree in 1898 and a Masters of Arts degree in 1902.

Breedlove was appointed Librarian of Trinity College in September of 1898, when the Library occupied a single room in the Washington Duke Building. Breedlove received his Library training in the summer of 1900 at Amherst, where he studied under William I. Fletcher, who was a pioneer in the field of library education. While at Amherst he also met Charles A. Cutter, who developed the Cutter classification system. Breedlove continued his library education in the summer of 1902, when he did a practicum at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore.

By 1902 the Trinity College Library had grown to 15,000 volumes and moved to the newly completed Library over the Christmas break. Until September of 1914 when he was able to hire a staff member to assist with cataloging, Breedlove handled all aspects of Library operation with minimal student assistance. Library operations grew substantially after Trinity College expanded into Duke University. During the period of 1924 to 1930, Library operations grew to include the General Library (West campus) and the Woman's College Library (East campus) as well as the libraries for the schools of Law, Medicine, and Religion. Under Breedlove's direction, the General Library was organized into the divisions of Reference, Circulation, Periodicals, Newspaper, Serials, and Continuations, Reserve Books, and Graduate Reserve as well as the departments of Catalog, Order, and Manuscript.

Breedlove served as Librarian until September 1939 when he was named Librarian Emeritus. In the years after his retirement he continued to work on library projects and wrote a history of the Library entitled Duke University Library, 1840-1940 .

From the guide to the Joseph P. Breedlove papers, 1913-1950, (University Archives, Duke University)