Dickinson, Asa Don

ASA DON DICKINSON, (1876-1960), Brooklyn College's first Chief Librarian, was born in Detroit, Michigan, and educated at the Brooklyn Latin School. In 1894, he became a student at Columbia Law School, but left after two years due to poor health. Thereafter he had thoughts of becoming a librarian, particularly after he heard that Andrew Carnegie, the philanthropist who established over 2,500 public libraries, was about to fund some additional ones in New York City. He enrolled at the New York State Library School in Albany, and also began to compile a list of the books he believed to be most no...