Melvil Dewey and the Lake Placid Club
Near Lake Placid, New York
Lake Placid owes much of its early fame to a man whose legacy is deeply mixed, Melvil Dewey. If the name sounds familiar, it is because Dewey invented the Dewey Decimal System, the numbering scheme that organizes books in libraries around the world. In eighteen ninety five, Dewey and his wife Annie founded the Lake Placid Club here on the shore of Mirror Lake, a members only resort that grew into a sprawling year round retreat and helped turn this village into a winter sports destination.
It was the club's push for winter recreation that laid some of the groundwork for the Olympics coming here. But the club had an ugly side that must be told honestly. Dewey wrote its membership rules himself, and they barred Jews, Black people, and others from joining.
His literature stated plainly that no Jews were allowed, and Black people were permitted on the grounds only as servants. Dewey was so committed to exclusion that he bought neighboring land to keep Jewish families from buying nearby. In nineteen oh five, after a public outcry over these policies, he was forced to resign as New York State Librarian.
In twenty nineteen, the American Library Association removed his name from its top honor, citing his racism, antisemitism, and history of harassing women.
