The Library World Volume 56 Issue 1

Abstract

BRITISH librarians are interested in the recollections of the Director of the University of Wyoming, in Laramie, to this country as a “Fulbright” visitor recently as recorded in that excellent house journal, the Wilson Library Bulletin (May, 1954, pages 767–71). Dr. Orwin Rush came with Mrs. Rush and a family of four children. He is appreciative of the spirit shown by “the determination of a great people to live by those beliefs and ideals which have meant so much to the free peoples of the world” and he tells of the marks the war years have left upon us still. There were, too, the personal restrictions we accepted; the tiresomeness of our government controlled radio, the patient queueing for rationed goods—just thirteen queues to shop for one ordinary meal—the “no standing on the bus,” the formal waiting for interviews, much of it mere tedium inflicted by arrogance, and much more; especially the drab school uniforms the children were forced to wear—“no jewelry allowed to be worn either by my fourteen‐year‐old daughter who was in a public school, or my five‐year‐old daughter in a private school.” Some very variable customs are regarded as universal, e.g., “the British have been eating porridge for breakfast for centuries and like it.” Universal, however, was our interior heating; “my experience in trying to heat an English house with open fires has convinced me that it is a necessity for Englishmen to sip a lot of hot tea.” We have never admitted as a race that our climate is other than temperate. Possibly this summer of 1954 has modified our view and established that the only certain truth about the weather is, “it won't last.”

Citation

(1954), "The Library World Volume 56 Issue 1", New Library World, Vol. 56 No. 1, pp. 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb009381