Librarians, in case you hadn’t heard, are essential members of society — likely to expand minds wherever they go — and, as such, are fully worthy of hero worship (whether they’re among the coolest librarians alive or just pretty cool). That’s at least part of the impetus behind My Daguerreotype Librarian, “[a] tumblr dedicated to literally or figuratively hunky and babely librarians from the past.” Inspired by the website, here’s a little extra literary goodness: 25 awesome vintage photos of librarians from ages past, either shown or linked below.
Lewis Wickes Hine/The New York Public Library
Children lined up at the Chatham Square Branch librarian’s desk, 1910 (above).
The New York Public Library
The young people’s librarian and students, New York’s Aguilar Branch, 1938 (above).
National Photo Company Collection/Library of Congres
Paul Brockett, Librarian at the Smithsonian National Academy of Science, 1924 (above).
National Photo Company Collection/Library of Congress
Brig. Gen. R.E. Noble, Librarian of Army Medical Library, 1924 (above).
Farm Security Administration, Office of War Information/Library of Congress
The school librarian and one of her student assistants at Woodrow Wilson High School, Washington D.C., 1943 (above).
Warren Coville Collection/Library Of Congress
A librarian telling an Ojibwa legend to a roomful of children at the Queens Borough Public Library, 1910 (above).
The New York Public Library
The Librarian at Tuskegee, Alabama and his assistant, 1910 (above).
The New York Public Library
A librarian helps a young hooligan (above).
The New York Public Library
Librarian with young reader in Browsing Room of the Nathan Strauss Branch for Young People (above).
The New York Public Library
Miss Eleanor Ayoub, Branch Librarian, New Drop Regional Branch, 1972 (above).
The New York Public Library
A librarian tells a story at the Webster Branch of the New York Public Library, 1910 (above).
A librarian reaching for the top shelf of the card catalog.
Augusta Baker, who worked in Children’s Services at The New York Public Library from 1937 to 1974.
Fanny Kuter, the librarian circa 1950 at the Ladies Free Library in South Dansville, NY.
Los Angeles Public Library clerk using photo-charging machine, 1950.
A librarian in the Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs, 1950.
Niagara Falls librarians, 1955.
Minnie Oakley and Florence Baker Hayes, two Wisconsin State Historical Society librarians, 1896.
One of the original sexy librarians.
Three men dusting books at the New York Public Library, 1913.
Clyde King, Atlantic County Library System’s bookmobile driver circa 1955.