198 Ohio
Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
learned and was a life member of the Ohio State
Archaeological and
Historical Society.
Joseph Green Butler,
Jr., married Harriet Voorhes
Ingersoll, of
Honesdale, Pennsylvania, January 10,
1866. Of this union
were born Mrs. Blanche (Butler)
Ford, Mrs. Grace
Ingersoll (Butler) McGraw, and Mr.
Henry A. Butler. The
latter two survive. Mrs. Butler
died in 1921.
Mr. Butler was
familiarly known as "Uncle Joe,"
and his wide circle
of acquaintances and friends felt a
personal loss, when
they learned that his death had
come on the eve of
the celebration of his eighty-seven
years of life in the
Mahoning Valley.
PROF. AZARIAH SMITH
ROOT
A librarian of state,
national and international repu-
tation died at his
home in Oberlin, Ohio, Sunday, Octo-
ber 2, 1927. He was
born at Middlefield, Massachu-
setts, February 3,
1862. He was the son of Solomon F.
and Anna (Smith)
Root.
He came as a student
to Oberlin College, Oberlin,
Ohio, from Dalton,
Massachusetts, in 1879. He was
graduated from the
College with the degree of A. B., in
1884, and received
his A. M. degree in 1887. He was a
law student at Boston
University from 1884 to 1885;
cataloguer in the
Oberlin College Library from 1885 to
1886, and student at
Harvard Law School from 1886
to 1887 and at the
University of Gottingen, Germany, in
1898 and 1899. He was
a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
For forty years
Professor Root was librarian of the
Oberlin College
Library; and was, for some time, an
annual lecturer
before the Library Schools of Columbia,
Reviews, Notes and Comments 199
Western Reserve and Michigan
Universities and Pratt
Institute. During 1916 and 1917, he was
acting direc-
tor of the New York Public Library
School. He was
president of the Ohio Library
Association in 1901 and
1914-1915; of the American Library
Association, 1921-
1922; of the Bibliographical Society of
America, 1909-
1912 and 1923-1926. He was also a
director of the
American Correspondence School of
Librarianship.
He was active in temperance work. With
Howard
Russell, A. G. Comings, J. P.
Henderson, H. M. Tenney
and other prominent citizens of
Oberlin, he assisted in
organizing the Anti-Saloon League of
America.
Throughout the remainder of his life he
was a faithful
supporter of this organization.
In his long service as librarian of the
Oberlin College
Library, he built up what is said to be
the largest college
library in the world. When he entered
upon his duties
in this institution, it numbered 14,000
volumes. When
he died, it had grown to 507,587
volumes, most of which
were bound and all of which were
thoroughly indexed
and available for loan and reference
use. The Oberlin
College Library is Professor Root's
enduring monu-
ment.
Shortly before his death, Professor
Root had been
elected to the position of secretary,
librarian and chair-
man of the Book-Purchase Committee of
the Spiegel
Grove Committee of the Ohio State
Arch??eological and
Historical Society, and director of
research at original
sources in Spain, France, England and
Canada, relating
to the State of Ohio, the Northwest
Territory, the
United States of America and the
Western Hemisphere,
in the Hayes Memorial Library, at
Fremont, Ohio. He
200
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
had been especially active in the
selection of books for
the Hayes Memorial Library.
He was a life member of the Ohio State
Archaeolog-
ical and Historical Society and served
on its Spiegel
Grove Committee.
Mr. Root was a scholarly gentleman,
unassuming,
modest, and from early manhood a great
student. He
was a wise and trusted counselor among
the student
body and faculty of Oberlin College and
a constantly
widening circle of those who came to
him for advice.
His death leaves a vacant place that
will be long felt by
his library associates, especially
those in Ohio.
Professor Root is survived by his wife,
Mrs. Anna
Mayo (Metcalf) Root, whom he married in
1887; by a
daughter, Marian, connected with the
New York City
Public Library, and by a son, Francis
M., professor
of Social Hygiene and Public Health, at
Johns Hopkins
University, Baltimore.
WILLIAM PENDLETON PALMER
William Pendleton Palmer, president of
the Ameri-
can Wire and Steel Company, died at his
home in Cleve-
land Heights, December 19, 1927. He was
born in
Pittsburgh, Pa., June 17, 1861; was the
son of James
Stewart and Eleanor Pendleton (Mason)
Palmer; and
was educated in the public schools of
his native city. He
took an active interest in educational
institutions; was
trustee of Case Library and Oberlin
College; president
of the Western Reserve Historical
Society; and mem-
ber of a number of literary and
industrial societies.
His estate, at the time of his death,
was valued at
over $1,000,000. He left gifts of
$25,000 to both the