Newspaper clipping collage on Ellen M. FitzSimons — retirement, obituary, and tributes, 1948–1953

[An album page densely covered with overlapping newspaper clippings and photographs commemorating Ellen M. FitzSimons (1862–1953), librarian of the Charleston Library Society.]

Upper-left annotation (handwriting of the compiler, blue ink, beside a small carte-de-visite portrait of Ellen as a young woman):

Ellen Milliken FitzSimons

B. Nov. 27th 1862

D. July 9th 1953.

Top-center feature article (headline, ca. October 1948):

Librarian Forty Years for Venerable Book Society

Here is Called ‘Charleston’s Cyclopedia’

[Illustrated with a head-and-shoulders portrait captioned: “Miss Ellen FitzSimons at Her Desk. (Staff Photo by Peck.)”]

To many users of the Charleston library, the library is Miss Ellen Milliken FitzSimons, so closely identified with the institution has she become in her forty years of service as librarian.

Miss FitzSimons is the daughter of Dr. Christopher FitzSimons and Mrs. Susan Milliken Barker FitzSimons. She was born November 27, 1862, at Mulberry plantation, on the Cooper river. The historic mansion in which she was born then generally is known as Mulberry castle.

At the time of her birth, Mulberry belonged to and was the home of John Milliken, her grand uncle. The War Between the States had reduced Miss FitzSimons’s parents from affluence to comparative poverty.

Her father was killed accidentally shortly after the war, leaving her mother with seven young children, the oldest about eleven years old. Ellen was the sixth child and the only girl.

Several years after the close of the war, Mrs. FitzSimons and her seven children moved from Charleston to Spartanburg and resided there until 1875. In Spartanburg, Miss FitzSimons attended her first school, a small private school for very young children. However, most of her schooling consisted in being taught at home by her mother. …

On Farm Near Hendersonville — From Spartanburg the family moved to Charlotte. After a year in that city, in 1876, when Miss FitzSimons looked only a few months of being fourteen years old, the family home was established on a farm which her mother had bought. This farm, which at that time was about fifty miles from the nearest railroad, is set in the superbly beautiful valley near the junction of Mills river and French Broad. …

At School in Charleston — After several years in Mills river valley, Miss FitzSimons came to Charleston and attended Miss Smith’s school for girls. During the school session she lived in the home of her uncle, Major Theodore G. Barker. There she had access to his well stocked library. The Christmas and spring holidays she spent at Mulberry, where there was a good library of an old fashioned type. …

[Account of training under the late Dr. John Shaw Billings of the New York Public Library follows.]

Reorganized the Library — When Miss FitzSimons came to the Charleston library in 1899, it was necessary for her to reorganize it completely. She trained her own assistants, who at first served without pay. Under her administration a heavy debt was paid off, a new library building erected. …

[Closing paragraphs:] After October, Miss FitzSimons will no longer be librarian. The board of trustees has made her honorary librarian and while her duties will be lighter, no one doubts that her interest and enthusiasm will persist so long as she lives. And in the years to come, the old society will always bear the imprint of one of its great personalities.

Upper-right photographs (two prints):

[A photograph of Ellen FitzSimons seated at her desk in the library, surrounded by books, papers and a wall-mounted bookshelf; captioned in blue ballpoint beneath:]

Ellie at her desk in the library.

[A second photograph below shows a two-story stuccoed house with a deep porch, palms in the foreground, captioned beneath in the same hand:]

4 Savage St. Ellie’s home — Charleston / S.C.

Right-margin column — biographical sketch (clipping, post-1953):

Ellen M. FitzSimons

For half a century, Miss Ellen M. FitzSimons was an important force in Charleston. Small but wiry in [physique], possessed of a gentle manner [yet] backed with ability and zeal over the [Charleston] Library Society. By introducing modern library methods and by constantly promoting this venerable institution, she made it into a more useful tool for researchers and a stimulant to the culture of the community.

Born on a plantation during a war that spelled the doom of plantations, she grew up in hard times. They were not times, moreover, that welcomed career women. She overcame handicaps and went ahead by dint of courage and intelligence. Her death at the age of 90 ends a distinguished record which will be remembered with pride and gratitude.

Lower-left feature (clipping with portrait, 1948):

Miss FitzSimons’s Retirement Will Mark the End of an Era

By John F. Alexander

[Body recounts Ellen’s lineage (daughter of Dr. Christopher and Susan Milliken (Barker) FitzSimons), her birth at Mulberry Castle on the banks of the Cooper, the family’s reduction to poverty by the War Between the States and the accidental death of her father, the move with seven children and a girl to Spartanburg, then to Charlotte, then to a farm in North Carolina. “Living for many years on the [farm], Miss FitzSimons developed [from] the trees, rivers and mountains about her, a love and knowledge of nature.” Account of training under Dr. John Shaw Billings; reorganization of the Charleston Library Society from 1899; honorary doctor’s degree conferred by the College of Charleston in 1935. Closes with the same retirement-board-of-trustees passage as the lead article.]

Center column — death notice (July 1953):

Deaths and Funerals

Miss Ellen M. FitzSimons, Librarian / At Library Society for 50 Years, Dies

[Illustrated with a small portrait captioned “MISS ELLEN M. FITZSIMONS / Former Librarian Dies.” Body:]

Miss Ellen Milliken FitzSimons of 4 Savage St., librarian of the Charleston Library Society for 50 years, died yesterday at a local hospital. Funeral arrangements will be made later by Connelley’s. …

Miss FitzSimons was born at Mulberry Plantation Nov. 27, 1862, a daughter of Dr. Christopher FitzSimons and Mrs. Susan Milliken Barker FitzSimons. … In 1899 she became the Charleston Library Society’s librarian. In her position she held for 50 years. … In 1935 the College of Charleston conferred upon her an honorary doctor’s degree. In 1948 Miss FitzSimons retired as librarian of the Charleston Library Society. She was a member of St. Philip’s Protestant Episcopal Church.

Surviving are several nieces and nephews.

Center-right column — funeral notice:

Miss FitzSimons / To Be Buried / This Morning

[Pencilled annotation in the margin:] July 9 [19]53

Funeral services for Miss Ellen Milliken FitzSimons of 4 Savage St., who died Thursday, will take place at Magnolia Cemetery today at 10:30 a.m. The Rev. Marshall E. Travers and the Rev. W. P. Robey will officiate. Connelley’s announced. …

Far-right column — letter to the editor:

50 Years With Library

To The News and Courier:

Charleston, as we all know, has many “firsts” to its credit and we can safely say that we have added an international first in the amazing record of Miss Ellen FitzSimons.

Fifty years the librarian of one of the most important libraries of the world, is, we can assume, an unequaled record. Besides the strenuous duties which such an office imposes, our Miss Ellen gave most generously of herself to the many writers and would be writers from all about, who sought her advice and help.

If one could select any special quality in her wholly developed personality, it would be that of an inspiring enthusiasm. As this is a trait sadly lacking in our materialistic world, it is to be treasured as an aesthetic experience and stimulant.

There can be no written account of what she has meant to us; of the impression she made upon us, as children, which we have carried throughout the years; of her gentle and understanding kindness, her fallible assistance and her uplifting enthusiasm.

A most vital factor in our great heritance of culture at its finest. Miss Ellen is Charleston and Charleston is now what she has helped to make and preserve.

ANNIE LAURIE SIMONS HEUZEL

Tradd Street.

Lower-center small clipping — “Enclopedia” [sic]:

A visitor here went to the Charleston Library Society on King St., in search of information, and was supplied with considerable data by Miss Ellen M. FitzSimons, librarian. He summed up his appreciation very effectively: “Miss FitzSimons is Charleston’s encyclopedia,” he said.