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Film crew in Batavia for documentary on the 'Queen of Modern Libraries in China' Submitted by Howard Owens on April 30, 2014 - 6:27pm http:///howard-owens/film-crew-batavia-documentary-queen-modern-libraries-china/42499 Unless you're a serious local history buff, the name Miss Mary Elizabeth Wood may be unfamiliar. In China, however, especially among those who appreciate the country's public library system, Miss Wood is revered. Her fame has brought a Chinese film crew to Batavia this week as part of their effort to create a documentary chronicling the life of the "Queen of Modern Libraries in China." Born in Elba in 1861, Wood became the first librarian of the Richmond Memorial Library in 1889, a position she held for 10 years. The only daughter of Edward Farmer Wood and Mary Jane (Humphrey) Wood, who had seven boys, Miss Wood took a trip to China to visit her youngest brother Robert in 1899. On that trip, she learned there was no public education system and residents had little access to all the wisdom contained in the world's books, even ones in their own language. Wood decided to stay in Wuchang, where she eventually made 3,000 books available for borrowing at the building known as the Octagonal Pavilion. Soon, she traveled back to the U.S. for a year of study, her first actual courses in library science, having gotten as far as she did before then on her strength as "a great reader." While on the trip, she raised funds and secured book donations that enabled her to open in 1910 the Boone Library in Wuchang. By the 1920s, Wood was lobbying Congress for funds to advance library science in China and through the grants received and with the help of two of her Chinese prodigies, Wood established the first school for library science in China. Following her death of an illness in China in 1931, her body was returned to Batavia and she is buried in the Batavia Cemetery. These pictures were taken while the film crew prepared to interview Kathy Facer, Richmond's reference and technology librarian. Here's the Wikipedia entry on Mary Elizabeth Wood, which contains greater detail on her life and work.
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· 参考阅读：《巴塔维亚每日新闻》 Chinese crew filming in Batavia Area native Mary Elizabeth Wood is subject of documentary http://www./news/article_f7b2fc26-d1b7-11e3-a788-0019bb2963f4.html Local author and historian Larry Barnes prepares to be interviewed for a documentary about Mary Elizabeth Wood being filmed at Richmond Memorial Library Thursday. (Rocco Laurienzo/Daily News) Posted: Friday, May 2, 2014 1:09 am | Updated: 1:13 am, Fri May 2, 2014.
Chinese crew filming in Batavia By Paul Mrozek pmrozek@batavianews.com The
Daily News Online |
0 BATAVIA — A university professor and a film crew from China are in Batavia this week to work on a documentary on the life of Mary Elizabeth Wood, the first director of Richmond Memorial Library. Wood is well-known in China, said Professor Cheng Huanwen, “because Miss Wood made a great contribution to Chinese and American librarianship.” Wood, a native of Elba who grew up in Batavia, was instrumental in establishing the first public lending library in China, in 1910, in the city of Wuhan. “That was a very important historic(al) event,” Cheng said. Prior to creation of a public library system,
people in China had little access to books and periodicals. The
royal families, the wealthy elite Cheng is a librarian who studied Wood for 10 years and has researched her for three decades. He is a professor of Information Management at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China. He said in an interview Thursday that May 1 was the anniversary of Wood’s death. She died of a heart attack in 1931 in China. Her grave is in Batavia Cemetery on Harvester Avenue. Cheng donated to Richmond Library 150 copies of a book he wrote, “A Biography of the Queen of Modern Library Movement in China, Miss Mary Elizabeth Wood, 1861-1931.” He also gave Richmond a poster board exhibit on Wood that features many of the photographs and narratives used in the book. Wood also started her own school in China to train people to be librarians. Graduates of her two-year program went on to create East Asian libraries at 10 American universities. One legacy of that effort is Harvard University has the largest East Asian library in the world, Cheng said. “They still exist now, all the libraries,” said script writer coordinator Wang Yichen. The documentary’s director is Tian Miao. He works for the National Library of China, the organization financing the documentary. Individuals he already interviewed for the documentary include Richmond Library director Diana Wyrwa and local author and historian Larry Barnes. Tian and Wang are both graduates of Beijing Film Academy. They and their crew will spend a week in Batavia; it culminates with a shoot on Sunday with Hollywood actress Laura Weissbecker, who will perform in the role of Wood. Cheng and the documentary film makers will spend a month in the United States. They will retrace Wood’s career path in America and will shoot video in places such as Boston, Mass. and Austin, Texas. |
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