The College community this week mourned the loss of Ruth Anne Evans, the former associate librarian whose seemingly total recall of Union history made her something of a campus legend.
Evans died Feb. 2 at the age of 76 after a long illness. Funeral services were Tuesday at St. John the Evangelist Church followed by a reception in Everest Lounge, Hale House.
A native of Schenectady, Evans joined the College in 1952 as an assistant cataloguer in the library after earning degrees at Smith College and the Columbia School of Library Science. She was named a full professor in 1973 – the first woman to be awarded that rank at the College – and became associate librarian in 1984. She retired in 1989, although she continued to come into the library on an almost daily basis to help with a variety of projects and to continue her lifelong practice of mentoring younger librarians.
Trained as a reference librarian, she became known as the principal reference for anyone wanting to know anything about Union's history. As a colleague once said, “If Ruth Anne doesn't know it, it didn't happen.”
At Evans' retirement party in 1989, then-librarian Ann Seemann said, “She serves as campus historian, albeit informally, with an acute sense of humor and almost total recall. Her wisdom and her wit abound in anecdote and fact.”
Her College service included Conservatorial Committee, Phi Beta Kappa nominating committee, and committees to pick candidates for Watson Fellowships and the St. Andrews Exchange.
She received the Faculty Meritorious Service Award from the Alumni Council in 1975, and she was elected to honorary membership in the Delphics, a student service organization (in recognition of her assistance with student projects, in particular their planning of Fitzhugh Ludlow Day festivities).
She was a member of the Schenectady Historical Society, where she held several positions; the American Library Association; the American Association of University Professors; the American Association of University Women; Phi Beta Kappa; the Capital District Library Council; and the New York Library Association. She was a volunteer for the Literacy Volunteers of Schenectady and was a member of St. John the Evangelist Church and its Rosary Society.
Survivors include a niece, Madelaine Ann Estabrook of Waltham, Mass.; and three nephews, Carl Estabrook Jr. of Champaign, Ill.; Joseph Estabrook of Centerville, Va.; and David Estabrook of Arlington, Va.
Contributions may be made to the Literacy Volunteers or the Schenectady Historical Society.