Burton E. Stevenson

Burton Egbert Stevenson (1872–1962) was an American author, anthologist, and librarian. He was born in Chillicothe, Ohio on 9 November 1872, and attended Princeton University 1890–1893. He married Elizabeth Shepard Butler (1869–1960) in 1895. He died 13 May 1962 and was buried in Chillicothe, Ohio.While at Princeton, Stevenson was a correspondent for United Press and for the New York Tribune. He was city editor for the Chillicothe Daily News (1894–1898), and worked for the Daily Advertiser (1898–1899).Stevenson became director of the Chillicothe public library in 1899 and held that position for 58 years.Stevenson was well known for his war efforts. At Camp Sherman, located in Chillicothe, Ohio, he established a library of 40,000 volumes and 22 branches. The Camp Sherman library was said to be a model for national efforts to establish such libraries. In 1918, in his role as Director of French operations for the Library War Service, he helped establish what would grow to become the American Library in Paris. He was the director of this ALA outpost from 1918 until the library privatized in 1920, and returned from 1925–1930. He was then made European director of the American Library Association`s Library War Service, a position he held for seven years.

As well as being a librarian, Stevenson wrote numerous novels, including four young adult's novels, edited others' works, and created numerous anthologies of verse, familiar quotations, and the like. Many of his anthologies are still in print.

Marietta College awarded him the degree of Litt.D. in 1955. Stevenson Center at Ohio University-Chillicothe is named after him.