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Early Life

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Lawrence Chace Powell (he adopted the middle name Clark after "...the boys at school shouted for me to chase Powell")[1] was born on September 3, 1906 in Washington D.C. where his father, the highly-regarded[2] horticulturalist George Harold Powell (1872-1922), was working for the Bureau of Plant Industry of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.[3] For the first four winters of Lawrence's life until late December 1910, the elder Powell researched "...the decay of citrus fruit in transit"[4] in Riverside, California with the family in tow. It was when his father became the general manager of the California Fruit Growers Exchange (also known by its brand-name Sunkist Growers, Incorporated) in 1911 that the family, consisting of Powell's mother, Gertrude Clark Powell (née Gertrude Eliza Clark) (1870-1957) and two older brothers (Harold Clark Powell (1900-1938) and George Townsend Powell (1901-1955)), settled in South Pasadena, California where he would remain for the rest of his childhood until departing for Europe in late September 1930.[5][6]

Growing up, Powell was an active child and the ringleader of the neighborhood boys.[7] He played various sports, though by his own admission, was not very good,[8] and was a small-time troublemaker engaging mostly in pranks and petty theft.[9][10] The few times that Powell did get into trouble with the law, his parent's personal connections ("...from my mother's being on the school board and my father a Republican pillar...")[11] were enough to keep his punishments reasonably light.[12] Upon his mother's insistence Powell took piano lessons from a neighbor, but eventually rebelled, preferring instead to play the popular music as taught by his brother George on his saxophone.[13][14] This musical training would serve Powell well in high school (where he "played dance music"),[15] in college (where he had his "...own college dance orchestra"),[16] and aboard the cruise ship Benjamin Harrison where he played with the band after withdrawing from college for a semester following his freshman year.[17][18]

In the way of an early education, Powell attended Marengo Elementary School[19] and South Pasadena High School.[20] At the former, he teamed up with friend Pat Kelley and a young Ward Ritchie (who would later become a world-renowned printer)[21] to found a one-page newspaper called the Marengo Literary Leader which became the organ for Powell's first published writings.[22] At the latter institution, Powell played an active role in school affairs as a musician, yell leader, and actor.[23] In contrast with his social life, Powell's academic record in high school was - with the exception of senior-level history and English literature courses - poor.[24] Nevertheless, in 1924 he graduated.[25]

In addition to his other extracurricular activities, Powell was also a patron of the South Pasadena Library from the age of six.[26] In writings and speeches given throughout his career, Powell frequently described the influence that Nellie Keith, South Pasadena's City Librarian from 1895-1930,[27] had on him.[note 1] Of her he wrote:

"She was perceptive of my...hunger for books. She perceived my need and she met it, and thereby unknowingly determined my ultimate fate; for twenty years later, when [City Librarian of Los Angeles] Althea Warren asked me why I didn't declare for librarianship, when in the depth of the Depression no teaching or writing doors were open, I thought back to the first librarian I had known, and the image of Nellie Keith came before my eyes...[28]

From his parents (either as gifts or by using his allowance) and the South Pasadena Public Library, Powell was able to get his fill of books he enjoyed, "...the various series of the Rover Boys, Dave Porter, the Boy Allies, Tom Swift; and later Sax Rohmer and Zane Grey".[29] As for key books of his early youth, Powell has cited four: A Child's Garden of Verses, The Home Book of Verse, Grimms' Fairy Tales, and Book of Knowledge.[30][31]

Notes

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  1. ^ Nellie Keith is mentioned briefly in Powell (1968) and Powell (1988). Her name also comes up often in his essays including Powell (1959) and Powell (1968b). Additionally, his 1954 collection Alchemy of Books is dedicated to her.

References

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  1. ^ Powell (1968), 7
  2. ^ Starr (1990), 366
  3. ^ Powell (1968), 1
  4. ^ Powell (1968), 1
  5. ^ Powell (1988), 15
  6. ^ Starr (1990), 377
  7. ^ Powell (1988), 29
  8. ^ Powell (1988), 25
  9. ^ Powell (1988), 29-32 and others
  10. ^ Powell (1968), 6-7
  11. ^ Powell (1988), 30
  12. ^ Powell (1968), 6
  13. ^ Powell (1988), 35
  14. ^ Powell (1968), 5
  15. ^ Powell (1968), 8
  16. ^ Powell (1968), 5
  17. ^ Starr (1990), 369
  18. ^ Powell (1968), 18-19
  19. ^ Powell (1988), 26
  20. ^ Starr (1990), 368
  21. ^ Oliver, Myrna (27 January, 1926). "Ward Ritchie; Master Printer, Bibliophile". LA Times.
  22. ^ Powell (1968), 7-8
  23. ^ Powell (1968), 8
  24. ^ Powell (1968), 10-11
  25. ^ Powell (1987), 10
  26. ^ Powell (1986), 4
  27. ^ Apostal (1995), 22
  28. ^ Powell (Sept. 1959), 44
  29. ^ Powell (1968), 4
  30. ^ Powell (1968), 5.
  31. ^ Powell (1988), 15-16

Sources

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  • Powell, Lawrence Clark (September 1959). "The Elements of a Good Librarian". Wilson Library Bulletin 34.
  • Powell, Lawrence Clark (1968). Fortune & Friendship. New York: R. R. Bowker Company.
  • Powell, Lawrence Clark (1968b). "What's Wrong with Librarians". in Bookman's Progress: The Selected Writings of Lawrence Clark Powell. Targ, William (Ed.). Los Angeles: Ward Ritchie Press.
  • Powell, Lawrence Clark (1987). "Next to Mother's Milk..." Washington DC: Library of Congress. ISBN 0844405515
  • Powell, Lawrence Clark (1988). An Orange Grove Boyhood: Growing Up In Southern California 1910-1928. Santa Barbara, CA: Capra Press. ISBN 088496275X
  • Starr, Kevin (1990). Material Dreams: Southern California through the 1920s. New York: Oxford UP. ISBN 0195044878
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