Charles Cutter

Bio Facts

• Born in Boston on March 14,1837
• He was exposed to books at an early age by his wealthy aunt who was a librarian.
• He entered Harvard at 14 years old and graduated 4 years later.
• In 1856 he entered Harvard Divinity School and worked in the library.

More Bio Facts

• In 1860 Cutter joined the library staff at Harvard as assistant to Dr. Ezra Abbott
• He collaborated with Abbott for the next 8 years to develop a new cataloging system.
• In 1868 at age 31 Cutter was appointed librarian of Boston Athenaeum
• He died in September of 1903 of pneumonia before completing the final schedule of the cutter system

WHAT IS THE CUTTER SYSTEM?

• Cutter system was first published in the 1890's
• Cutter believed that cataloging should make it easier for the patrons to locate books
• The cutter system was developed in seven schedules.
• The first one for smallest libraries and the last one for the largest libraries

Rules and Principles

• Combination of letters and numbers that follows the classification number and is preceded by a decimal point.
• Call numbers offer clues to the book's subject.
• First line- subject; second line- author; third and fourth line-dates of editions, indications of translations and critical works
• Example: QD 1 A5 Vol. 2 Plates
• In order to make a Cutter number you must consult a table.

Contributions

• His outline was the basis for the Library of Congress System
• He introduced the loan cards placed in a pocket glued to the inside of rear book covers
• He developed an inter-library loan program
• He also developed home deliveries to housebound patrons
• He and Dewey worked to develop the ALA.

WEBSITES WE USED ABOUT CUTTER

• forbeslibrary.org
• princeton.edu
• wesfiles.weseleyan.edu
• bostonathenaeum.org