Edith Guerrier - "A little [warrior] woman of New England" on behalf of USpublic documents, 1870-1958

An exemplary independent woman for many and still a role model for some gay and lesbian couples today, Edith Guerrier contributed to the popular use o f government documents in the first half of the 20th century. Part of a lon g-term Boston marriage with Edith Brown (1872-1932), Guerrier served at the Boston Public Library; in the U.S. Food Administration; and on the Public Documents Committee of the American Library Association. On the cutting edg e of her profession in the 1920s, she led the patriotic movement to popular ize government documents, created a precursor to the U.S. Government Manual ; and collected some of the earliest data on actual document use. Throughou t her 40-year career, she championed life and work skills, especially liter acy, among young women and the public's use of documents rather than librar ies archiving such material. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights rese rved.