Leota Price
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Leota Price was born May 5, 1876, in Champaign, Illinois, to David C. and Ida Belle (Boring) Price. The Price family moved to Lebanon, IN in 1905.
Price worked as a teacher for various grades in Lebanon and Thorntown, IN. She was also socially active, serving in leadership positions in the Epworth League of the Methodist Church and the Tourist Club.
In 1913, Price started taking summer courses at the library school of the University of Illinois in Champaign. By September 1913, she was appointed acting reference librarian at the Lebanon Public Library. She served in that capacity for a month while the usual librarian, Caroline Meyer, was on leave.
In 1914, Price became the children's librarian at the Lebanon Public Library when their previous children's librarian, Helen Means, took a position at the Dominy Memorial Library in Fairbury, IL.
Price also took on the role of acting reference librarian when Meyers took leave in 1915. Price was appointed to the position permanently in 1916 when Meyer resigned following some conflict with Lebanon's head librarian, Cora Bynum.
Price was the reference librarian at Lebanon until 1920, when she came to the Paris Carnegie Public Library as our head librarian. Price told the Pioneer, a local paper in Lebanon, that while our library was larger and better equipped, our books and their arrangement were not up to Lebanon's standards, something she must have addressed in her nine years as head librarian.
Price attended the Illinois Regional Library Conference hosted in Mattoon, IL, on March 10, 1926, along with some other staff. Nina Dulin Russell, the head librarian after Price, was one of the staff members who accompanied her. The following year, on March 5, Paris hosted a conference, welcoming 45 area librarians and trustees.
In 1929, Price retired from the position of head librarian. The board presented Price with a set of silver spoons to thank her for everything she did for the library, and hoped her retirement would be temporary. Price moved in with her mother to help in her care. They lived in Walnut Township, in Montgomery County, IN, with one of Price's brothers. Mother and daughter moved back to Lebanon in 1935. Price took up her former position of children's librarian at the Lebanon Public Library by September 1935, succeeding Mildred Rogers. Price continued her professional development, attending conferences and meetings around Indiana.
In January 1942, Price requested a leave of absence from the Lebanon library, lasting three months or longer. She was granted her request. In October that same year, she submitted her resignation, to take effect on New Year's Day, 1943, though she asked to be considered an applicant should a vacancy occur in the future.
Price moved to Fort Wayne, IN in 1956, possibly to be closer to her two younger sisters, Mary Agnes and Willodeen. Both sisters also worked as librarians and started their careers at the Lebanon Public Library.
Price died in October 1970 and was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, Lebanon, IN.
We would like to acknowledge the research assistance of Teressa Penington, Ceili Boylan, Eric Spall, Local History Librarian at Lebanon Public Library, IN, and the Kokomo Howard County Public Library, IN.