Ruth French Carnovsky

Ruth French Carnovsky (born Ruth Calista French^[1], later Strout; August 11, 1906 – November 11, 2003^[2][3]) was an American educator, classical philologist, and librarian.

Ruth and her family moved from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin,^[1][4] to De Pere, Wisconsin, shortly after her birth.^[5] In 1928, she went on to receive a Bachelor of Arts degree in Latin from Carroll College in Waukesha, Wisconsin.^[4][6] She then began studying Greek and Classical Archaeology at Yale University.^[4] In 1935, she earned her Ph.D. in Classics from the University of Illinois Chicago.^[4] She later received a B.S. in Library Science from the University of Minnesota in 1945.^[4]

After receiving her B.A., she began teaching Latin and Humanities at Iberia Junior College in Iberia, Missouri.^[4] She later worked as an art librarian at the Minneapolis Public Library from 1945 to 1948.^[4] From 1949 to 1953, she served as an associate professor at the University of Denver's School of Librarianship, teaching courses in cataloging and classification.^[7] This was followed by a year as a visiting professor at Keio University in Tokyo (1953–1954).^[4] Ruth then began teaching at the University of Chicago's Graduate Library School (GLS) from 1954 to 1971,^[4] serving as the GLS dean during the 1960's.^[2] She ultimately retired as a professor emeritus.^[2]

She married her first husband, Donald Everett Strout, on January 1, 1935,^[1] whom she divorced in 1953.^[1] She later married Leon Carnovsky in 1967,^[1] whom she stayed married to until his death in 1975.^[8]

Ruth Carnovsky died on November 11, 2003 in Oakland, California.^[2][1][3]

• 1. (French) Strout RC. The greek versions of jerome's vita sancti hilarionis. [Order No. 30405298]. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; 1935.
• Carnovsky, R. French., University of Chicago. Graduate Library School. Conference. 1956). (1957). Toward a better cataloging code. [Chicago]: University of Chicago, Graduate Library School.
• University of Chicago. University Extension Division. Home Study Dept., Strout, R. Calista French. (1956). Organization of library materials: Library Science 201. Chicago: University of Chicago, Home-Study Dept..