San
Joaquin County
Biographies
HERMAN PARKINSON
As the live wire librarian of the
Stockton Public Library, H. O. Parkinson has woken up many people to the fact
that a library isn’t meant only for bookworms, and he has shown that real, red-blooded
folks can make more money and get more joy out of life through books. He was born in Taunton, Massachusetts, on
February 3, 1891, and as a lad attended the public schools at Waltham,
Massachusetts; later he was graduated from Dartmouth College with a degree of
A. B. with the class of 1913. After his
graduation he then attended the New York State Library School at Albany; then
became an assistant in the public library at Brooklyn, New York, and occupied the
same position in the Newark, New Jersey public library.
During September, 1920, he was
appointed to the position of librarian of the Stockton Public Library and by
efficient supervision he has increased the circulation for the year 1921-22
over the preceding year 86,000 volumes.
He has also introduced better methods of charging books and magazines,
and has taken off the restriction on the number that can be borrowed at one
time, and no longer requires that an adult have a guarantor in order to secure
a card. He is president of the Fifth
District, including ten counties, of the California Library Association.
The marriage of Mr. Parkinson united
him with Miss Constance Dyer. During the
World War Mr. Parkinson joined the ambulance corps attached to the French Army
and saw service overseas for eighteen months.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Parkinson are active members of the Congregational
Church of Stockton, and his fine tenor voice is heard to advantage in the
church choir. He is a member of the
Rotary Club of Stockton and is the editor of the little monthly paper of that
organization, the Stocktarian. Mr. Parkinson’s favorite sport is handball,
and instead of poring over books most of the time as many people imagine a librarian
does, he hustles over to the Y. M. C. A. after work and makes some of the “boys”
step around the handball court at a rapid rate.
Transcribed by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
1583-1584. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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