The power of one (librarian)

Beware the dogged librarian.

What can one thoughtful woman on a mission accomplish? Plenty, if the woman was Mayme Clayton. It turns out that the little-known Clayton, a college librarian who died in October at age 83, spent decades quietly compiling one of the nation's most significant collections of African-American history.

Storing her finds in various locations in Los Angeles and (shudder) in her damp garage (where much of it still sits), her collection includes:

-- The only known signed copy of "Poems on Various Subjects Religious and Moral" by Boston's Phillis Wheatley, the first book published in America by a black author, and dating to 1773.
-- Letters and first editions from Harlem Renaissance writers such as Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes.
-- America's first abolitionist journal, "The African Repository," dating from 1830 - 1845, and a complete set.

She also had a huge collection of African-American films, movie posters, magazines, and original documents such as slave bills. Southern California historians are now racing to safeguard her collection, and are thrilled that her son supports their efforts. You can read a whimsical Washington Post story about this delightful librarian (in her later years, she liked to e-mail dirty jokes) and her achievements here.