NAME: Frederick Gridley Kilgour
DATES: 1914-
ADDRESS:
E-MAIL:
WORKED AT: OSS; OCLC
OTHER INFORMATION: Lilley-Trice cite OCLC as his principal contribution to information science. He was connected with the library school at UNC. Around 1961-63 while librarian of the medical library at Yale, he spearheaded a project called HYCCUP (Harvard Yale Columbia Catalog Utilization(?) Project) with Tom Fleming at Columbia. 

He was a chemistry major at Harvard. He trained at Harvard University Library in microplan use (1942-45). He applied this, with the help of Eugene Power to the problem of importing strategic enemy publications for military use as chief of the OSS's Interdepartmental Committee (IOC), which was after 1945, transformed into the Department of Commerce's Office of Technical Services (In 1971 OTS was enlarged into the National Technical Information Service--NTIS). 

After the war, Kilgour served in the intelligence branch of the State Department. Then he got his MLS at Columbia and headed Yale's Medical Library. He was the first director of OCLC. (See discussion of his war-related work in Richardson's book).

AWARDS: 1979 Award of Merit(ASIS) for "transforming a state association of libraries into a national interlibrary loan bibliographic utility...This achievement may be the single greatest contribution to national networking in the United States. His work will have a lasting impact on the field of information science" (Lilley-Trice).
OFFICES:

PAPERS AT:
LOCATION #1
Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library, Box 1603A Yale Station, New Haven, CT 06520; search under: Yale University Library Systems Office records, YRG 32-I, 1965-1974.
PAPERS DATES: 1873-1956 (inclusive)
SIZE: Total collection: 15 linear feet (4 boxes, 1 folio)
INCLUDES: The papers of Richard Kiry. Frederick Kilgour is listed as an important correspondent.
FINDING AID: Unpublished finding aid in the repository.
SOURCE: RLIN

PAPERS AT:
LOCATION #2
Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library, Box 1603A Yale Station, New Haven, CT 06520; search under: Kiry, Richard Shelton, 1874-.
PAPERS DATES: 1965-1974 (inclusive)
SIZE: 27 linear feet
INCLUDES: The records include the office files of Frederick G. Kilgour and Ben-Ami Lipetz. The collection is restricted until 1994. It forms part of Yale Record Group 32 (YRG 32), Yale University Library Records.
FINDING AID: Unpublished preliminary inventory available in the repository.
SOURCE: RLIN

PAPERS AT:
LOCATION #3
OCLC Archives
PAPERS DATES: 1967-ca. 1990
SIZE:
INCLUDES: Correspondence, memos, reports, published articles, etc. while director of OCLC.
FINDING AID: None available as of 10/95. Contact library manager at OCLC for access and collection information.
SOURCE: Phone conversation with Leslie P. Dillon, 10/95.

PAPERS AT:
LOCATION #4
PAPERS DATES:
SIZE:
INCLUDES: Personal papers--notebooks/diaries of professional activities for many years. Still in personal possession but may be deposited with University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) Southern History Collection. Microfilmed copy of early years in possession of Ohio State University Special Collections Department.
FINDING AID:
SOURCE: Phone conversation with Ed Holley, UNC-Chapel Hill, 10/95 and Kilgour, 6/96.

PAPERS AT:
LOCATION #5
Medical Library Association and Regional Medical Libraries.
PAPERS DATES:
SIZE:
INCLUDES: Oral history interview with Kilgour, conducted 11 May 1985 by R. M. Watterson as part of MLA Oral History Program.
FINDING AID:
SOURCE: MLA Archives

A CAREER MEMORY FROM FREDRICK KILGOUR

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Page updated 14 April 1999