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Zella <I>Allen</I> Dixson

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Zella Allen Dixson

Birth
Zanesville, Muskingum County, Ohio, USA
Death
10 Jan 1924 (aged 65)
Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA
Burial
Dayton, Montgomery County, Ohio, USA
Plot
Sec: 78 Lot: 237
Memorial ID
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Zella was the youngest daughter of Josiah Buffett and Mary Caroline (Blandy) Allen. According to the University of Chicago Library's biographical notes on Mrs. Dixson, she received an A.B. from Mount Holyoke College in 1880 and she earned a second degree, an A.M., from Shepardson College, in 1892. She married Joseph E Dixson, who died in 1885. In 1888 she was appointed as a librarian at Denison University. In 1891 she was hired by the University of Chicago Library and was ultimately promoted to Associate Librarian in 1895. In the absence of an official University Librarian, Mrs. Dixson served as the de facto head of the library from 1895-1910.
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She began working as an assistant to Melvil Dewey (inventor of the Dewey Decimal System inventor of the Dewey Decimal system of library classification), at Columbia College library not long after her husband's death and was one of Dewey's students in library science.

In 1886, Dixson traveled around the Midwest, organizing over thirty libraries including those of Denison University, Kenyon College, and Baptist Union Theological Seminary. She also organized the public libraries of Elyria, Ohio; La Crosse, Wisconsin and Duluth, Minnesota. That same year, she joined the American Library Association.
Contributed by: Aaron Furtado Baldwin
Zella was the youngest daughter of Josiah Buffett and Mary Caroline (Blandy) Allen. According to the University of Chicago Library's biographical notes on Mrs. Dixson, she received an A.B. from Mount Holyoke College in 1880 and she earned a second degree, an A.M., from Shepardson College, in 1892. She married Joseph E Dixson, who died in 1885. In 1888 she was appointed as a librarian at Denison University. In 1891 she was hired by the University of Chicago Library and was ultimately promoted to Associate Librarian in 1895. In the absence of an official University Librarian, Mrs. Dixson served as the de facto head of the library from 1895-1910.
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She began working as an assistant to Melvil Dewey (inventor of the Dewey Decimal System inventor of the Dewey Decimal system of library classification), at Columbia College library not long after her husband's death and was one of Dewey's students in library science.

In 1886, Dixson traveled around the Midwest, organizing over thirty libraries including those of Denison University, Kenyon College, and Baptist Union Theological Seminary. She also organized the public libraries of Elyria, Ohio; La Crosse, Wisconsin and Duluth, Minnesota. That same year, she joined the American Library Association.
Contributed by: Aaron Furtado Baldwin

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  • Created by: Loretta Castaldi
  • Added: Oct 14, 2011
  • Find a Grave Memorial ID:
  • Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/78411777/zella-dixson: accessed ), memorial page for Zella Allen Dixson (10 Aug 1858–10 Jan 1924), Find a Grave Memorial ID 78411777, citing Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum, Dayton, Montgomery County, Ohio, USA; Maintained by Loretta Castaldi (contributor 47472615).