Page:Men of Mark in America vol 2.djvu/377

 AINSWORTH RAND SPOFFORD POFFORD, AINSWORTH RAND, LL.D., librarian, author, lecturer, was born in Gilmanton, New Hampshire, September 12, 1825. He is the son of L. A. Spofford and Grata Rand Spofford. His father was a clergyman, and a man of "industry, probity, studiousness and piety." His mother's influence over him was "chiefly moral." His earliest known ancestor in America was John Spofford, who settled in 1638 in Essex county, Massachusetts, coming from Yorkshire, England, where "Spofford Castle" still stands, although in ruins. In early life, young Spofford's health was almost uniformly good, but his strength was slight. In his village life he found books, and games his chief recreation, and his mode of life "fostered habits of industry and fidelity to business," for he had the customary tasks of light manual labor which fall to boys in a country town, "working in the garden, preparing wood for fuel, carrying post-office mail, and other household tasks." Part of his preparation for college he made under the private tuition of his brother, who was a student at Amherst college, and assisted him in the classics. But his eyes being impaired at the age of fourteen, he was prevented from entering that institution. He also studied in boyhood at Bradford academy, Massachusetts, in 1836; and in 1843, he took a six month's course at Williston seminary, Easthampton, Massachusetts.

He began the active work of life in 1844, when he became a clerk in a book store in Cincinnati, and in 1850 he became partner in a publishing house, which business he continued until 1858. A journalist, associate editor of the Cincinnati "Daily Commercial," for three years, 1859-61, he finally found in the duties of librarian the life-work in which he has been engaged for forty-five years. In 1864 he was appointed by Abraham Lincoln librarian of congress, at Washington, District of Columbia. From 1898 to 1904 he was Professor of Library Science in Columbian university at Washington. His principal public services have been: Reorganizing the library of congress; aiding