Making history: Lois S a yle s________
by Kathryn H all Bogle
A time capsule marked for open
ing in 1998 w ill tell students at
Roosevelt High School o f Lois A.
Sayles, a librarian who brought
fame and fortune to the school and
its library in 1965.
Lois Sayles waas the first black li
brarian to be hired in Oregon.
Sayles came first to the Multnomah
County Library in 1953 to work as a
children's librarian downtown and
later at the A rleta branch o f the
Portland L ibrary Association. A
Texan, Sayles received her bache
lo r’ s degree (cum laude) in social
science from Texas College in Tyler,
but went on to earn her M . A. degree
in Librarianship from the University
of Denver in 1952.
Having acquired an appreciation
o f the West, Sayles was delighted
when a job as a librarian opened for
her in Portland. Marian Herr, head
librarian at the time and retired
now, as is Sayles, paved the way for
a genuinely warm welcome for the
young librarian from staff and in
the general community. " M y first
impression," says Sayles, "were of
a friendly, helpful staff. They all
seemed to want to help me adjust to
life in Portland and to my first real
job as a librarian in a real library
system.
" I loved working directly with
children at Arleta, and to visit the
elementary schools nearby. Under
the established program I visited
Creston, Kellogg, A rleta and five
other schools supplying book talks,
and pertinent library information to
acquaint the children with the use of
a library.
" A couple of years la te r,” con
tinued Sayles. " I wanted to have the
experience o f working with high
school students and I applied for a
position with the Portland Public
Schools. They were ‘ not ready’ to
receive a black lib rarian in high
schools at that time, I found, so I
applied for a sim ilar position in
Vancouver, Washington.
“ Over there it was different. A t
Fort Vancouver High School, they
welcomed me with open arms. I
stayed there about seven years and
helped plan the new library from the
blueprints on, when the new Colum
bia River High School was b uilt.
But I yearned to work closer to my
home in Portland, and I jumped at
the chance to sign on to be librarian
at Roosevelt High School when, by
chance, I heard of the opening from
M ary Reike. a Portland School
Board member at that time."
Sayles stayed at Roosevelt for
about 14 years striving for excel
lence all the way. Through profes
sional literature Sayles learned of
the Knapp Foundation Award un
der the auspices of the American L i
brary Association which could open
up possibilities fo r im proving li
brary services to students. I f the
Knapp Foundation wished to dem
onstrate good services, Sayles
wanted Roosevelt to be the model.
Roosevelt High School applied and,
after diligent preparation, they were
one of the two high schools in the
nation chosen to demonstrate how a
lib rary can be a central part o f a
high school.
The rest is history. The Knapp
award brought national acclaim and
$200,000 to Roosevelt. Knapp com
mittees came and moved about the
school for a week, talking to stu
dents, to teachers, taking pictures.
Brittanica made a film narrated by
Chet Huntley for use by libraries.
" A copy of the film may still be in
the archives of the Portland Public
Schools,” says Sayles. " I wrote a
report for the capsule telling how we
moved from a conventional type li
brary to become a ’ media center.’
We acquired a graphic arts center
and an audiovisual departm ent.
We had four full-time librarians and
12 assistants.
“ W ithin a five-year period more
than 3,000 visitors came from Aus
tralia, England, Sweden, South Af-
Lola A. Saylaa. Educational Madia Speciallat. with friend Mark
Hatfield in 1966
rice as well as from all parts o f the
United States. Along with all the
changes, my title in the capsule
reads ’ Lois A. Sayles, Educational
Media Specialist.’ "
In 1965, Sayles was chosen one of
the "T e n Women o f Accomplish
ment" in Education in Portland.
Before her retirem ent, Sayles
spent several summers living in
Salem and working in the Oregon
State L ib ra ry . " F o r a while I
worked with children through corre
spondence with them, filling their
book requests and needs with notes
flying back and forth between us. I
also had an interesting experience
working in the reference department
supplying material for the state leg
islators who needed to research a
law that needed to be tracked
down.”
Since her retirement Sayles has
traveled with her husband, Walter
Sayles. She also plays a good steady
hand of bridge and keeps up her a f
filiation with her beloved clubs and
sororities including The Links. Inc.,
Delta Sigma Theta. Delta Kappa
Gamma and others.
Lola A. Saylaa. in ratiramant.
(Photo: Edward Pataraonl
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Jan Ernst Matzeliger <1852-1889)
Born in Paramaribo, Dutch Guinea, he earned
passage to the United States as a sailor and arrived
in Lynn, Massachusetts in 1876. After laboring ten
years, Matzeliger invented and patented an auto
matic Shoe-Lasting Machine in 1883. The patent
was purchased by the United Shoe Machinery
Company of Boston, which revolutionized the shoe
industry, creating thousands of jobs and cutting
shoe prices in half. He was posthumously awarded
a gold medal by the Pan-American Exposition in
1901. A statue was erected in his honor in Lynn,
Massachusetts, the shoe capital of the world.
PORTLAND. OREGON
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