A Comparison of the Progressive Era and the Depression Years: Societal Influences on Predictions of the Future of the Library, 1895-1940

This study examines societal influences on predictions of the future of the library from both the Progressive Era (1895-1920) and the Great Depression (1932-40). Predictions from the Progressive Era tend to place the reader at the crest of a long wave of progress, to foresee voluntary cooperation among libraries, and to stress a moral dimension of librarianship. Predictions from the Depression years tend to place the reader at a moment of historical disjunction and to foresee either a centrally planned library system or a future shaped by wonderful advances in science. The ways in which the predictions examined here partook of the dominant sociopolitical ideas of their day underscore the social embeddedness of libraries.