Frances Lander Spain

Frances Lander Spain was born on March 15, 1903 in Jacksonville, FL. She graduated from Winthrop College in 1925 and married Donald Spain. After her husband's death, she attended Emory University and received a BA in Library Science in 1936. She earned a Master's in Library Science from the University of Chicago in 1941 and a PhD in 1944. Dr. Spain worked as a librarian and instructor at Winthrop College in South Carolina from 1936 to 1948. She served as president of SCLA from 1947 to 1948. In 1951, she received a Fulbright Grant to start a library training program in Thailand. She returned to Thailand in 1964 to expand the program. Dr. Spain also worked at the University of Southern California, the New York Public Library, and Central Florida Junior College, and was a visiting lecturer at Columbia University, the Pratt Institute, Rutgers, and Syracuse. She served as the president of ALA from 1960 to 1961. Frances Lander Spain died on January 20, 1999. The interview presented here covers her early years, the years she worked at Winthrop, and her involvement with SCLA.