Nethery, Wallace 1910-1996

Biography

Wallace Nethery born December 29, 1910 on his grandfather's farm outside the town of Gravity, Iowa. He received his Bachelor of Arts in English from Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1934. He served in the Navy during World War II on the USS Enterprise, stationed in the Pacific. Nethery intended to get a PhD in English from the University of Southern California, but switched over to Library Science and later started work at the USC library. He eventually married a fellow USC Library employee, Corry Sprangers.

Corry helped Wallace with his printing endeavors, which Wallace printed on his Kelsey Co. miniature press bought in 1955. Over the course of nearly 40 years, the Netherys printed approximately 51 books and pamphlets, mostly miniatures (and mostly one page at a time!). Most of the books were miniature books printed personally, and sold at Dawson's Book Shop. Nethery was friends with Saul and Lillian Marks of the Plantin Press, as well as Glen Dawson of Dawson's Book Shop.

Nethery was the librarian at the Hoose Library of Philosophy at USC until his retirement in 1976. He died in 1996, in the middle of printing his last miniature book "Pastorale".

From the guide to the Wallace Nethery Papers, 1931-2000, (University of California, Los Angeles. Library. William Andrews Clark Memorial Library)