John Griswold White
| John Griswold White | |
|---|---|
 John Griswold White | |
| Born |
August 10, 1845[1] Cleveland, Ohio[1] |
| Died |
August 26, 1928[1] Jackson, Wyoming[1] |
| Burial place | Lake View Cemetery[1] |
| Occupation | Attorney, Library Board President |
| Parents | |
John Griswold White (10 August 1845 – 26 August 1928) was a prominent Cleveland attorney, a chess connoisseur, and a bibliophile.[3] "Over a period of some fifty years he conducted a determined quest, throughout the world, for desirable additions to his library."[3]
Early life and education
John Griswold White was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1845 to Bushnell and Elizabeth Brainard (Clark) White,both originally from Massachusetts.[1] When taking walks, John and his father would engage in intellectual activities such as only speaking Latin one day, Greek another, and having a "Chess Day" where they would play chess by memory with neither pieces nor a board.[4]:105
John G. White was born near-sighted but was not diagnosed until he was a teenager. Although fitted with glasses eventually, White usually read without them, preferring (according to his contemporaries) to hold the books close to his face.[4]:106
White's education took place at Central High School in Cleveland and Western Reserve College in Hudson, Ohio, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. It was at college that White continued his love of books and libraries.[4]:107 Two of White's favorite professors at Western Reserve College were Nathan Perkins Seymour (classics) and Charles Augustus Young (mathematics and science). White continued his love of chess in college, and he and Young played every Wednesday evening, often into the early hours of the morning.[4]:108
Cleveland Public Library Board of Directors
White was elected to the Cleveland Public Library's Board of Directors for the first time on May 5, 1884.[5] He was elected President at a meeting of the "Board of Managers of the Public Library" on May 13, 1884.[6] White helped the Cleveland Public Library settle lawsuits as a library trustee from 1884-1886, and served as Board President from 1910 to 1928, helping appoint Director Linda Eastman, and building a repository for the library's growing collection, including his own.[7]
John G. White Collection
Chess historian H. J. R. Murray, who called White's chess library the largest in the world,[8] made extensive use of the collection in writing his classic treatise A History of Chess.[9] White donated his collection to the Cleveland Public Library to form the John G. White Collection on Folklore, Orientalia, and Chess.[3]
The library has since split the collection into three:
- The John G. White Chess and Checkers Collection is described as the "[l]argest chess library in the world (32,568 volumes of books and serials, including 6,359 volumes of bound periodicals.)"
- The John G. White Folklore Collection contains 47,040 volumes, "one of the largest in the nation. It is broadly defined in scope and international in coverage without period restrictions. Included are primitive, peasant, native, and folk cultures within geographic restrictions."
- The John G. White Collection of Orientalia includes "materials on Asia, the Near and Middle East, Africa, Australia and Oceania," emphasizing "the humanistic and social science aspects of traditional cultures prior to the impact of European influence."[10]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "White, John Griswold". Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. Case Western Reserve University. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
- ↑ "John G. White, 83, Dies In Wyoming". Cleveland Plain Dealer. 28 August 1928 – via American's Historical Newspapers database from Newsbank, Inc.
- 1 2 3 I.A. Horowitz; P.L. Rothenberg (1969). The Complete Book of Chess. Collier Books. p. 45.
- 1 2 3 4 Cramer, C.H. (1972). Open Shelves and Open Minds: A History of the Cleveland Public Library. Cleveland: The Press of Case Western Reserve University. ISBN 9780829502190.
- ↑ "Mr. Willard Resigns. The Leader of the Anti-Free Book Men Declines to Act on the Finance Committee - Library Board Elected.". The Plain Dealer. Cleveland, OH. 6 May 1884 – via America's Historical Newspapers: Plain Dealer.
- ↑ "The Public Library Managers". The Plain Dealer. Cleveland, OH. 14 May 1884 – via America's Historical Newspapers: Plain Dealer.
- ↑ Wood, James (1994). One Hundred and Twenty Five: A Celebration of the Cleveland Public Library. Cleveland, Ohio. p. 15.
- ↑ Id. at p. 884.
- ↑ H. J. R. Murray, A History of Chess, Oxford University Press, 1913, pp. 179, 353, 479, 573-79, 645, 735, 787, 789, 800, 822, 841. ISBN 0-19-827403-3.
- ↑ Cleveland Public Library, Special Collections Archived 2009-03-05 at the Wayback Machine.
External links
- Diary and Views of Fishing Trips - An 18-volume series of scrapbooks of photographs and notes compiled by John G. White on his trips to the American West and Canada, available via Cleveland Public Library
- John G. White Archive - Finding aid to collection at Cleveland Public Library. According to the description at the site: "The John G. White Archive contains biographical information, personal correspondence and photographs of Cleveland attorney, President of the Cleveland Public Library's Board of Trustees and internationally known chess collector John Griswold White (1845-1928). The correspondences include communication with librarians William Howard Brett, Linda Eastman and Gordan Thayer, fellow chess enthusiasts and researchers, and friends, including Major Harry A. Auer. The collection also includes awards, personal records and professional legal papers."
- John Griswold White, Trustee, and the White Collection in the Cleveland Public Library - A Ph.D. thesis by Motoko B. Yatabe Reece.