{"id":287,"date":"2026-03-26T15:12:44","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T15:12:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/specialcollections\/umbc50\/?page_id=287"},"modified":"2026-05-14T18:37:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T18:37:12","slug":"founders","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/umbc50\/home\/themes\/founding-umbc\/founders\/","title":{"rendered":"Founders"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Identification<\/a>
John D. Haskell, Librarian, Laminated I.D. Card, 50UMBC-008<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

John D. Haskell was the first full time UMBC employee. He was responsible for starting the Library, although Haskell\u2019s initial days at the university were spent not at UMBC but at College Park where he was oriented \u201cinto the policies and procedures of the University of Maryland libraries system.\u201d It was Haskell\u2019s job to have \u201c75,000 volumes of books and periodicals available\u201d when the campus opened in 1966. He left UMBC in 1969 to enroll in a doctoral program for American Studies from George Washington University; Haskell retired in 2006 after a long career at the Earl Gregg Swem Library of the College of William & Mary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A group of the founding faculty and staff gathered for a portrait by photographer Tim Ford on the occasion of the 25th Anniversary of UMBC. Just a few of their stories include: David Lewis, Professor of Sociology and Anthropology, was a native of Wales, a Royal Canadian Air Force pilot during World War II, a recipient of master\u2019s and doctoral degrees from Ohio State University, and a nationally known authority on population problems, urban sociology, and minority issues; Alice Robinson, Professor of Speech and Drama, received her doctorate from Stanford, was experienced in college and community theater as well as in pioneering television production; and Librarian Simmona Simmons, an alumna of UMBC and College Park, a professor at the College of Information Studies at College Park, a recipient of the James Partridge Award by Citizens for Maryland Libraries, previously worked as a library assistant at Bowie State University before joining the staff of the UMBC Library.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Black-and-white<\/a>
Group Portrait of Founding Faculty and Staff by Tim Ford, UARC Photos-18-004<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Shown are: Front Row (seated): Lucy Wilson, Robert Shedd, Julia Enos; Middle row: Mary Jane Randolph, Homer Schamp, Evelyn Barker, Alice Robinson, Albin O. Kuhn, Ceil Nedeloff, Walt Sherwin, May Roswell, Larry Lasher, Dick Watts; Back row: Frank Burd, Simmona Simmons, Arthur Hyman, William Rothstein, Guy Chisholm, Richard Roberts, William Bettridge, and David Lewis.<\/em>  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Go to the next page, \u201cFirst day of school<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Return to \u201cFounding UMBC\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John D. Haskell was the first full time UMBC employee. He was responsible for starting the Library, although Haskell\u2019s initial days at the university were spent not at UMBC but at College Park where he was oriented \u201cinto the policies and procedures of the University of Maryland libraries system.\u201d It was Haskell\u2019s job to have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":263,"menu_order":12,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-287","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/umbc50\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/umbc50\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/umbc50\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/umbc50\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/umbc50\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/umbc50\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":895,"href":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/umbc50\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/287\/revisions\/895"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/umbc50\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/umbc50\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}