William Frederick Poole (1821–1894)

American librarian, born on the 24th of December 1821, in Salem, MA. He was educated at Yale, and in his junior year published the first edition of his Index to Periodical Literature, which has been kept up to date from time to time. He was chosen assistant librarian of the Boston Athenæum in 1851; chief librarian in 1856; librarian of the Cincinnati Public Library (1869–74); of the Chicago Public Library (1874–87); and of the Newberry Library at Chicago from the last-named year till his death. He was president of the American Historical Association and of the American Library Association, and in 1874–75 edited, in Chicago, the Owl; published Battle of Dictionaries; The Orthographical Hobgoblin; The Mather Papers; and Salem Witchcraft. He died in Evanston, IL, on the 4th of March 1894.