Countryman, Gratia Alta (1866–1953)

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Contributor: Minnesota Historical Society Press
Source: Minnesota 150 (F606 .R63 2007)
Gratia Alta Countryman
Gratia Countryman, Minneapolis, 1917. Photograph by Lee Brothers.

In June 1922, the Minneapolis Public Library book wagon made its first trip from Minneapolis to Excelsior, a small village on Lake Minnetonka. Riding aboard the book wagon was Gratia Countryman, the library system's visionary director.

Born in Hastings, Countryman moved to Minneapolis with her parents, her sister, and two adult relatives in 1884, when she enrolled at the University of Minnesota. She joined the Minneapolis Public Library staff in 1889, just after her graduation from the university. As she worked her way up through the ranks at the library, she led a successful campaign for legislative support of public libraries throughout Minnesota.

By the time she was named the library's third director, in 1904, Countryman had forged a reputation as an effective leader who worked tirelessly to expand the library's services. "How to reach the busy men and women, how to carry wholesome and enjoyable books to the far-away corners of the city, how to enlist the tired factory girls...these are some of the things which I conceive to be my duty for study, if I would help this public library to become what it is for," she wrote in her 1905 annual report.

Through Countryman's efforts, collections and reading rooms were carved out in Minneapolis fire halls, factories, and hospitals. She established an open-air reading area in Gateway Park at Hennepin and Nicollet and introduced the nation's first children's reading room at the main library. She also understood the importance of the library in the lives of immigrants. By 1914, the collection included books in twenty languages, and both the main library and the branches offered services for those who sought US citizenship.

In 1934, Countryman was elected president of the American Library Association. It was the worst of times for the nation's libraries—Depression-era budgets were being slashed everywhere. With characteristic determination, though, Countryman enlisted her 200,000 library patrons in a campaign for county and state support that would become a national model.

The following year, the Minneapolis Journal summed up her efforts: "Minneapolis loves and honors Gratia Countryman most because she traveled and tramped its streets in the early days to study the reading needs of each of its little outlying districts; because she has had thought for the bedbound, the povertybound, the trouble-bound, and has offered them her greatest solace, books; because she has believed and still believes that taking books to people who need them is her job; because she does that job with the sympathetic understanding which makes a book a benediction."

Cite
Roberts, Kate. "Countryman, Gratia Alta (1866–1953)." MNopedia, Minnesota Historical Society. https://www3.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/person/countryman-gratia-alta-1866-1953
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First Published: June 06, 2011
Last Modified: April 09, 2025

Bibliography

Benidt, Bruce Weir. The Library Book: Centennial History of the Minneapolis Public Library. Minneapolis Public Library and Information Center, 1984.

Pejsa, Jane. Gratia Countryman: Her Life, Her Loves and Her Library. Minneapolis: Nodin Press, 1995.

Stuhler, Barbara, and Gretchen Kreuter, eds. Women of Minnesota: Selected Biographical Essays. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1998.

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Related Video

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Women in Minneapolis History: Gratia Countryman

Gratia Countryman became the director of the Minneapolis library system in 1904. Hear what she has to say about her work in this video.
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Related Images

Gratia Alta Countryman
Gratia Countryman, Minneapolis, 1917. Photograph by Lee Brothers.
Gratia Alta Countryman
Gratia Countryman, c.1886.
Gratia Countryman, librarian, in library stacks
Gratia Countryman, librarian, in library stacks, c.1910.
Gratia A. Countryman, head librarian in Minneapolis
Gratia Countryman, head librarian in Minneapolis, 1928. Photograph by George E. Luxton.
Gratia Alta Countryman
Gratia Countryman at city-wide testimonial dinner in her honor, Minneapolis, December 11, 1936.
Gratia A. Countryman at desk in Minneapolis Public Library
Gratia Countryman at desk in Minneapolis Public Library, c.1945.
Shoes worn by Gratia Alta Countryman
Women's black lace-up shoes worn by Gratia Alta Countryman of Minneapolis, ca. 1889.
Gratia Alta Countryman at a luncheon
Gratia Alta Countryman (left) and an unidentified woman at a luncheon, March 20, 1936.
Academic hood presented to Gratia Alta Countryman
Black academic hood made by Cotrell & Leonard of Albany, New York, and given by the University of Minnesota to Gratia Countryman as part of an honorary Master of Arts degree, 1932. It features a white velvet band with gold and maroon lining.
Gratia Alta Countryman

Gratia Alta Countryman

Gratia Countryman, Minneapolis, 1917. Photograph by Lee Brothers.

Public domain

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society
Gratia Alta Countryman

Gratia Alta Countryman

Gratia Countryman, c.1886.

Public domain

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society
Gratia Countryman, librarian, in library stacks

Gratia Countryman, librarian, in library stacks

Gratia Countryman, librarian, in library stacks, c.1910.

Public domain

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society
Gratia A. Countryman, head librarian in Minneapolis

Gratia A. Countryman, head librarian in Minneapolis

Gratia Countryman, head librarian in Minneapolis, 1928. Photograph by George E. Luxton.

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society
Gratia Alta Countryman

Gratia Alta Countryman

Gratia Countryman at city-wide testimonial dinner in her honor, Minneapolis, December 11, 1936.

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society
Gratia A. Countryman at desk in Minneapolis Public Library

Gratia A. Countryman at desk in Minneapolis Public Library

Gratia Countryman at desk in Minneapolis Public Library, c.1945.

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society
Shoes worn by Gratia Alta Countryman

Shoes worn by Gratia Alta Countryman

Women's black lace-up shoes worn by Gratia Alta Countryman of Minneapolis, ca. 1889.

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society
Gratia Alta Countryman at a luncheon

Gratia Alta Countryman at a luncheon

Gratia Alta Countryman (left) and an unidentified woman at a luncheon, March 20, 1936.
Academic hood presented to Gratia Alta Countryman

Academic hood presented to Gratia Alta Countryman

Black academic hood made by Cotrell & Leonard of Albany, New York, and given by the University of Minnesota to Gratia Countryman as part of an honorary Master of Arts degree, 1932. It features a white velvet band with gold and maroon lining.

Holding Location

Minnesota Historical Society

Turning Point

In 1889, Gratia Countryman joins the staff at the Minneapolis Public Library, where she would work her way up through the ranks and become director.

Chronology

1884
Gratia Countryman moves from Hastings to Minneapolis with family when she enrolls at the University of Minnesota.
1889
She joins the Minneapolis Public Library staff, just after her graduation from the university.
1902
Countryman moves into an apartment on North Lyndale Avenue with Marie Todd, a children's librarian. The two women lived together as life partners for the next thirty-eight years.
1904
She is named the library's third director and is widely known as an effective leader.
1918
Countryman and Todd adopt a son, Wellington Greenway.
1934
Countryman is elected president of the American Library Association and campaigns to keep libraries funded.
1940
Todd dies on November 25.
1955
Countryman dies on July 27.

Bibliography

Benidt, Bruce Weir. The Library Book: Centennial History of the Minneapolis Public Library. Minneapolis Public Library and Information Center, 1984.

Pejsa, Jane. Gratia Countryman: Her Life, Her Loves and Her Library. Minneapolis: Nodin Press, 1995.

Stuhler, Barbara, and Gretchen Kreuter, eds. Women of Minnesota: Selected Biographical Essays. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1998.

Related Resources