Isom

stitute of Library Science. Finishing there in
1901, she went directly to Portland, Ore., as cat-
aloguer of the John Wilson Collection in the
Library Association of Portland, a small sub-
scription library with 1,000 members. She was
made librarian in January 1902, at which time
the library became a free public institution. A
law was passed in 1903 which extended its privi-
leges to the rural communities of Multnomah
County. Miss Isom's conception of the function
of a public library is expressed in her words at
the opening of the new Central library building,
Sept. 6, 1913: "The public library is the people's
library. ... It is but a sorry library that in ad-
dition to its volumes of classics, its treasured
shelves of wit and wisdom of past ages, does not
offer also the best of modern thought, does not
take pride in its collections on engineering, on
agriculture, on housekeeping, on mechanics, on
all the trades carried on in the community." The
ideas thus expressed were faithfully fulfilled un-
der her administration, and her broadminded
policy made the Portland library an important
educational institution in the community, and
won for her distinction among librarians through-
out the country. Her career is characterized by
the great improvements she accomplished in li-
brary service. She helped to secure the enact-
ment, in 1905, of the law creating the Oregon
Library Commission, which was designed to co-
ordinate library activities throughout the state,
and was a member of the commission from its
creation till the time of her death. She founded
the State Library Association, was one of the
organizers of the Pacific Northwest Library As-
sociation and its president in 1910-11. She was
vice-president and member of the council of the
American Library Association, 1912-13. At the
time of the World War she was appointed direc-
tor of war work in Oregon for the American
Library Association, which entailed among other
things supplying the spruce camps with books.
She volunteered to the American Library Asso-
ciation for library service over seas, and for six
months was engaged in organizing libraries in
the American hospitals in France. She was a
woman of keen intellect, of forceful character,
and especially qualified for leadership. She took
part in many activities making for the develop-
ment and betterment of the community, and was
a member of a number of important civic organi-
zations.

[Library Asso. of Portland, Monthly Bull., Memorial
No.f May 1920; Who's Who in America, 1920-21; Pub-
he Libraries, May 1920; Library Jour., July i, 1920;
Morning Qregonian (Portland), Apr. 16, 1920; Oregon
Jour., Apr. 15, 1920; personal acquaintance.]

N.B.P.

Iverson
IVERSON, ALFRED (Dec. 3, i;98-Mar. 4,
J873)> jurist, congressman, senator, was born
probably in Liberty County, Ga., the son of Rob-
ert and Rebecca (Jones) Iverson. He came of
Danish stock, his first American ancestor being
a Danish sea-captain who settled at Wilmington,
N. C The family subsequently moved into east
Georgia, where it was one of substance and dis-
tinction when Alfred Iverson was born. Gradu-
ating at Princeton in 1820, he began the practice
of law in Clinton, Jones County, Ga., and repre-
sented that county in the lower house of the
Georgia Assembly in three sessions, 1827-29. In
1830 he moved to Columbus, Muscogee County,
in the section recently vacated by the Creeks.
An early settler of the town, he took a leading
position at the bar, and participated in the devel-
opment of the section. From Nov. 10, 1835, to
Dec. 14, 1837, he served as judge of the state su-
perior court, Chattahoochee circuit; in 1843 he
was elected to the state Senate from Muscogee
County, serving one term.
Iverson's political affiliations were Democratic.
In 1844 he was named a Polk elector. He fa-
vored Texan annexation. He was elected to Con-
gress, and served one term, 1847-49. On Nov.
I3> 1850, he became, for the second time, judge of
the Chattahoochee circuit, which office he held
until January 1854, when he resigned to accept
election to the United States Senate, taking his
seat, Dec. 3, 1855, as a colleague of Robert
Toombs. In the Senate, Iverson took an advanced
position on "Southern rights," asserting that the
only province of the federal government as re-
garded slavery in the territories was to assure its
protection. On Jan. 6, 1859, while debating the
Pacific Railroad bill, he took occasion to prophe-
sy early secession and dissolution of the Union
(Congressional Globe,35 Cong., 2 Sess., pp. 242-
44, App., pp. 290-91). This speech brought a
remonstrance from his colleague Toombs, who
thought it premature. In Georgia, too, displeas-
ure was expressed at his radical views, and on
July 14,1859, he undertook to defend his position
in a speech at Griffin, Ga., which, because of its
radicalism, gained nation-wide notoriety. He
maintained that the time for compromise of
Southern rights as regards slavery had passed,
and that defiance to the abolitionists was the
only course remaining; and if slavery was not
assured full protection in all the territories, he
advocated immediate formation of a separate
Southern confederacy (Federal Union, Milledge-
ville, Ga., July 26, 1859). These views injured
him politically, and he was not reflected to the
Senate, but when Georgia seceded in January
1861, before the expiration of his first senatorial