Sleepy History - Dewey Decimal: The Surprising History of the Man Behind the System

Episode Date: October 6, 2026

✨Sleepy History is written and narrated by humans. ✨ Narrated By: Heather Foster Written By: Alicia LeVesque Tonight, learn about the librarian Melvil Dewey - the American inventor of the Dewey Decimal system of classification, which is used in libraries around the world. Includes mentions of: US History, Libraries, Biography, Discrimination, Mental Health, Harassment #History #Sleep #Dewey #Decimal #Library #libraries #USA #Classification About Sleepy History Explore history's most intriguing stories, people, places, events, and mysteries, delivered in a supremely calming atmosphere. If you struggle to fall asleep and you have a curious mind, Sleepy History is the perfect bedtime companion. Our stories will gently grasp your attention, pulling your mind away from any racing thoughts, making room for the soothing music and calming narration to guide you into a peaceful sleep. Want to enjoy Sleepy History ad-free? Start your 7-day free trial of Sleepy History Premium: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sleepyhistory.supercast.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Have feedback or an episode request? Let us know at: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠slumberstudios.com/contact⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Sleepy History is a production of Slumber Studios. To learn more, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.slumberstudios.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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At least 135 countries use this method of organization for nonfiction. Tonight we'll learn all about the unusual powerhouse of a man who invented it and how his beliefs and ideals shape the system for both better and worse. We'll also see how the system has evolved over the years and why it continues to cause debate today. So just relax and let your mind. drift as we explore the sleepy history of Melville Dewey and the Dewey Decimal Classification. In order to understand how the Dewey Decimal Classification came to be what it is today,

it is important to understand the man behind it. Melville Louis Kosuth Dewey was born in Adams Center, New York, on December 10th, 18, He was the youngest of five children. Although his family was not wealthy, they prioritized education. And from a young age, it was clear that Dewey had an unusual affinity for organization. Wherever he went, he always tried to organize whatever he could get his hands on, beginning with his toys and eventually advancing to his mother's kitchen right down to the spices. As he grew up, Dewey's rigid dedication to order seemed to bleed into many areas of his life. When he began to earn his own money in his teenage years, he diligently saved every penny.

Once he had enough to meet his goal, it is said that he made a rather long walk to the nearest town to purchase a dictionary. Despite his modest means, Melville Dewey was able to attend college. In 1870, he briefly attended a small college before he transferred to the larger Amherst College, which was four and a half hours from his home. Once at Amherst, it was no surprise that he was immediately drawn to the college library. Although you may be thinking the library is the perfect place for someone who loves order, it was not the case at that point in history. While Dewey was indeed surrounded by knowledge, organization was quite lacking.

At the time, individual libraries were responsible for organizing their own items, however they saw fit. Most of them did so by using a fixed location method. The librarian took note of where each book sat on the shelf. Books were sometimes organized by size or color, but they were often organized by the order in which they were acquired. Because of this, many libraries were not open for public browsing. If someone desired a specific title, they would go in and ask the librarian. The librarian would then consult their notes to find its location. Without an official way to categorize books by subject or title, it was often a challenging

task for the librarian as well. Even though university libraries were common on larger college campuses, they also fell into the chaotic system of book cataloging. Because of this, students didn't have the freedom to browse the stacks themselves. Looking at the lack of uniformity and structure in libraries at the time, it's easy to see how a man like Melville Dewey would be compelled to put his organizational skills to use. In his junior year at Amherst, Dewey began working in the school library. His immediate mission there was organization. After much thought, he came up with an idea for a new classification system. It was inspired by the metric system of measurements.

Throughout his life, Dewey was a proponent of the metric system, as opposed to the U.S. customary system, also called the imperial system. Dewey was also well known to have an unusual fascination with the number 10. in an article for American Libraries magazine, journalist and author Joshua Kendall writes, Considering 10 a magic number,

Dewey was convinced that it was no accident that he had been born on December 10th the same day that the French National Assembly adopted the Platinum Meter Bar back in 1799. at the Lake Placet Club, the cooperative resort in the Adirondacks that he established in 1895, the number 10 ruled. He charged members a $10 annual fee, lifetime members, were $1,000 or $10 to the third. He also required that guests turn off their lights at exactly 10 p.m.

the same time that the overnight train from the club left for Manhattan. This was a man who was addicted to writing 10-page letters and even preferred to sleep decimally, that is, 10 hours each night. So it's likely no surprise that he came up with a decimal system centered around the number 10. The infinite possibility of the numbers allowed for the classification of nearly any book on any topic imaginable. In 1873, he outlined his method in a memorandum. He planned to present it to the Amherst Library Committee.

With enthusiastic permission from his superiors, Dewey began to implement. his classification system. From students to faculty, it wasn't long before people at Amherst took notice of the positive changes to their campus library. When Dewey received his bachelor's degree in 1874, he was officially hired as a librarian at Amherst.

Over the next two years, Dewey continued to work tirelessly, refining and performing. affecting his method using Amherst as his testing ground. However, Dewey viewed his initial success as only a small first step. His ultimate goal was to bring uniformity to libraries as a whole. Dewey spent time visiting libraries and making connections with others in his field. He was eager to both learn and share.

To say that his classification was well received would be an understatement. Eventually, Dewey would find himself at prominent campuses such as Harvard and Columbia. He impressed the faculty so much that at one point, he was asked to give a lecture for their own library staff. One individual who sat in on his lecture was Annie Godfrey. a visiting librarian from Wellesley College. Shea Dewey formed a connection immediately and remained in close contact over the next couple of years. In 1876, Melville Dewey published the first edition of his classification system.

The 44-page pamphlet was titled A Classification and Subject Index for Cataloging and Arraigno, arranging the books and pamphlets of a library. At its core, the Dewey Decimal Classification had 10 broad categories, which can be broken down into narrower categories as needed. The broad categories began with 0-00-0-99 for information and general works. 100 to 100 to 190, is for philosophy and psychology. 200 to 299 is for religion. 300 to 300.39 is social sciences.

400 to 499 is language. 500 to 500 to 599 is science, including mathematics. 600 to 699 is technology, which includes everything from medicine to engineering to agriculture. 700 to 7009 is arts and recreation. 800 to 899 is literature. And the last section is 900 to 900. 99 for history and geography.

Here's an example of how the system works. If a student needed to find a book on property laws, they would begin in the 300 section, which is for social sciences. Law is classified in the 340s. For property law specifically, the student would then move to 346. Since there are many,

forms of property, it is then narrowed down by adding a decimal, followed by the numbers related to the narrower terms. For example, a book about intellectual property law would be classified as 346.048, while a book related to real property law would be 346.043, Using the DDC, books on any topic can be added and removed from a collection with ease. It also allows for easy location by any librarian or patrons who are willing to do a bit of research. As the need for standardization in libraries became apparent, a group of prominent individuals decided to hold an official meeting for the those in the field. In 1876, a group of more than 100 professionals established the American Library Association, commonly known as the ALA. One of the founding members was Dewey himself,

but it was Justin Windsor, the librarian at Harvard University, who was elected to be the ALA's first president. It wasn't until much later in 1890 that Dewey would get his turn as ALA president. Initially, Dewey was given the role of secretary, where he remained for roughly 15 years. During that time, he accepted no compensation for his work. Of the 100-plus attendees at that momentous ALA meeting, Only 13 of them were female. Among them was the librarian Annie Godfrey, Dewey's friend from Wellesley College.

1876 was not only a huge year for libraries, but also for Dewey himself. Although his main mission seemed to be library organization, he was not content to stop there. He also founded the Library Bureau, a small business dedicated to selling library supplies that were, of course, all uniform and standardized in size. The business didn't generate enough money to support itself for quite some time. However, it is responsible for that little pocket used to hold a catalog card, which can be found inside the gym. jacket of many library books. That 12 by 5 centimeter by 7.5 centimeter card is also courtesy of the Library Bureau. It's the perfect fit for the pocket. Another innovation that Dewey worked on in 1876 was Library Journal, a publication that he founded. Although the Dewey Decimal

classification was well received, it took other libraries quite some time to actually implement it. Having access to a periodical like Library Journal allowed many librarians across the states to stay abreast of the latest ideas. While Dewey was certainly a large part of it, he was not the only great mind behind Library Journal. Richard Rogers Balker, a fellow ALA member, was a journalist and publisher by trade.

He and his colleague Frederick Leipold were already running a new successful publication named Publishers Weekly. Dewey and Balker met with Leipold to discuss starting a trade publication, one that was dedicated to the profession of librarianship. Thus, Library Journal was established. With Balker and Lipold as the publishers and financial backers, Dewey served as editor. As a journalist, Balker also wrote for Library Journal. In fact, when Dewey stepped down as editor in 1886,

Balker took up much of the slack. He ensured the continuation of library journal, both physically and financially. Though it's impossible to gauge exactly how much influence Library Journal had on Library Reform Overall, its popularity over the last 150 years speaks volumes. Like libraries themselves, Library Journal has evolved and adapted, keeping librarians up to date on the latest innovation. in library science.

While the modern editions look much different than the original publication in 1876, its purpose remains the same. With the ALA, the Library Bureau, and Library Journal all being founded in 1876, Dewey still couldn't stop there. Some lesser-known projects were also founded that same year. same year. One was dedicated to metric reform and the other was for spelling reform. As we mentioned earlier, Dewey was a proponent of the metric system and he made a strong push for America to adopt it. However, spelling reform was another matter. Dewey believed that so much time was wasted

due to the way English is constructed. Indeed, it is regarded as one of the harder languages to learn. Dewey felt that English needed to be simplified by spelling the words phonetically. He also appreciated the time it saved when writing. While it may come as no surprise that spelling reform never took off, it had a significant impact on Dewey himself. He often used simplified spelling and even changed the spelling of his own name to reflect his ideals. His name was originally spelled M-E-L-V-I-L-L-E, but he dropped the L-E at the end.

For a short while, he also spelled his last name as D-U-I. However, he eventually went back to the original spelling. With all this going on in his life, Dewey still found time for his dear friend and fellow librarian Annie Godfrey. It wasn't long before their relationship turned to romance. And they married in 1878. One could say that Melville Dewey was an unusual individual. Annie Godfrey proved to be an exceptional partner and balancer for her husband. They shared the same passion for libraries and education.

With their goals aligned, they made an excellent team. A major change in their lives came five years later when Melville Dewey received a letter from Frederick Barnard, president of Columbia College. According to Barnard, Columbia's library was lacking in every way. The college had decided to build a new library, which not only had more room for books, but also consisted of large open areas called reading rooms for students to be able to study within the library. It was Barnard's wish to start the new library off properly.

He could think of no better person to consult than Melville Dewey. Barnard spoke with the committee at Columbia and asked that they invite Dewey to one of their meetings. After the committee met with Dewey, they felt strongly that he was the man for the job. At this point, the Deweys were living in Boston while trying to manage the library bureau business. It is said that Dewey was reluctant to accept the position at Columbia. However, they made him an outstanding offer. It was a chance for Dewey to create and manage a library according to his exact specifications. In 1883, Melville Dewey took up his official role as librarian at the new library of Columbia College.

In Dewey's vision, he imagined a library where students were able to browse the stacks and easily locate books for themselves. One of Dewey's immediate requests was that he'd be allowed to hire qualified staff. He wanted to educate the students on how to use the Dewey Decimal Classification so they could find books on any topic. When hiring Dewey had to learn, look no further than his wife's alma mater, Wesley College. With the help of his wife Annie, they selected six recent graduates whom Dewey referred to as the Wellesley Half Dozen. Over the next

four years, Columbia saw their library turn into a massive success. The organization, coupled with the highly competent staff, allowed students to come. to the library, browse the stacks as they wished, and stay for hours in the spacious, welcoming reading rooms. In light of the success, Dewey had begun to petition his colleagues at Columbia to allow him to start a librarianship class. He was eventually granted permission. By 1887, Dewey founded the School of Library Library. economy at Columbia College. This was the first school dedicated to teaching librarianship as a profession. That very same year, Dewey also became a father. He and Annie welcomed a son.

They named him Godfrey, which was Annie's maiden name. As a new father and teacher, it would seem that things were off to a great start. However, conflict arose when committee members at Columbia discovered that the newly established school of library economy had more female students than male. The president, Frederick Barnard, was completely fine with this, but unfortunately he was vastly outnumbered. Undeterred, Dewey argued the case, insisting that women had a definite place in the library profession.

Despite Barnard and Dewey's efforts, Columbia College stood firm. Dewey would no longer be allowed to teach at Columbia if he continued to allow women to enroll in the school of library economy. No matter how challenging things got, the Dewey's were not people who would compromise on their beliefs. A clear theme in the life of Melville Dewey is his unwillingness to bend. In 1888, he resigned at Columbia College. With the reputation that Dewey had created for himself, he was offered a job at the New York State Library, located in the state capital of Albany. Despite this prestigious position, Dewey still had the same desire to teach librarianship. After some negotiating, he re-established his school in Albany

and named it the New York State Library School. In the 18 years Dewey worked at the New York State Library, he oversaw many changes. Of course, converting their collection over to the Dewey decimal classification was one of the first. Dewey also played a significant role in establishing a library service dedicated to the blind and vision impaired. Despite these accomplishments, Dewey's unethical practices in his personal life would ultimately be the end of his library career. Problems began with the discovery of Dewey's exclusionary practices at his own personal resort. Several years before Dewey became the New York State librarian, he and Annie had visited her sister at her vacation home in the Adirondack Mountains. The secluded area was a much

quieter part of New York State and provided a needed reprieve from city life. The vacation cabin the Dewey's stay-at was located near a peaceful body of water called Mirror Lake. Nearby there was a hotel that was beginning to deteriorate. This gave Melville Dewey an idea. He made it his next mission to open his own resort, a health and wellness retreat. This was likely inspired by his own needs. It probably comes as no surprise that Dewey suffered from obsessive thought patterns. His need for perfectionism was why. widely documented. In his article, journalist Joshua Kendall writes, a perfectionist, Dewey was preoccupied with order, details, rules, and lists, symptoms that are the hallmarks of a form

of mental illness known to psychiatrists as obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, OCP. While he was never formally diagnosed with OCD or any form of mental illness or neurodivergence, there has been speculation in years since based on countless stories of his behavior and thought processes. Many who knew Dewey personally spoke positively of him and held him in high regard. However, it would seem an equal amount had challenges

and getting along with him, many of these challenges were due to the fact that Dewey held everyone else around him to his personal standards. Failure to meet them often revealed a less pleasant side of Dewey. It was his belief that those who were in professions with high mental demand desperately needed to take a break from their daily pressures.

His resort on Mirror Lake was dedicated to becoming the sort of mental wellness retreat that he himself needed. By 1895, the Lake Placid Club was established. Like many things, it began small, and like many things related to Melville Dewey, it did not stay that way. While the resort had been operating for around 20 years by the early night. It began to grow with the addition of winter sports. The mountains were perfect for skiing, and Dewey purchased equipment for guests to use. This brought a new level of appeal to the already growing resort. But with the growth of Lake Placid Club, Dewey's personal prejudices were on full display.

It wasn't long before those he was. worked with at the New York State Library found out about the policies at Dewey's club. Minority groups, including people who were black or Jewish, were not allowed to become members. While these kinds of policies were common at private clubs at this time, there was significant backlash when people found out. Sadly, this was another area of his life where Dewey refused to be swayed. Unwilling to change his discriminatory policies, Dewey put in a reluctant resignation from his post

at the New York State Library in 1905. The same year, Dewey's colleagues at the American Library Association also turned against him. Unfortunately, Dewey was known to be a serial harasser of women. There are many accounts of his inappropriate behavior towards the women he worked with. In 1905, complaints about Dewey's behavior resulted in him stepping down from the ALA. By then, Dewey was at an age where retirement was a natural step.

He threw all his resources into the Lake Placid Club. And even though Dewey was out of the library profession, he still had the Dewey Decimal Classification, or D.D.C. By 1911, Dewey established his own publishing imprint through the Lake Placid Club called Forest Press. It was set up to own and manage the DDC, which was on its seventh edition by this point. Over the following years, Dewey's son Godfrey helped him with the Lake Placid Club.

It continued to thrive as a well-known skiing resort. Dewey became a widower in 1922 when Annie passed away after two years of declining health. He remarried in 1924 to a woman named Emily McKay Beale, who worked closely with him at Lake Placid. In 1926, Dewey opened another Lake Placid club across the country in the state of Florida. Around this time, Godfrey Dewey campaigned to bring the Winter Olympics. to Lake Placid in New York. The campaign was ultimately successful, but Melville Dewey did not live to see the results.

On December 26, 1931, he passed away just weeks after his 80th birthday. A little over a month later, the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics was held at Lake Placid on February 4, 1932. Although Dewey passed away in Florida, his remains were brought back to New York. He was buried in a cemetery in Lake Placid, not far from his original club. After the death of its creator, the Dewey Decimal Classification remained very much alive.

Despite all of his faults, Dewey was someone who was willing to take the critique of others if he thought it would further the mission. Even during its creator's lifetime, the DDC was edited by an advisory committee formed by the ALA. When the editorial office moved to the Library of Congress a few years before Dewey's death, his own publishing company still afforded him a comfortable amount of control over it. Over the next several decades, the system continued to be revised periodically, with new editions being published by the ongoing Forest Press Publishing Company. However, this finally changed in 1988,

when an Ohio nonprofit now known as OCL purchased Forest Press, along with the rights to the Dewey Decimal Classification, OCLC began in 1967 with the desire to embrace the latest technology, of the time. Computers. The DDC allowed people to easily locate the information they needed. And with the help of computerization, physical boundaries could be overcome as well. If libraries openly shared their catalogs electronically, information could be sent between libraries, helping people gain greater access to the information they sought. After successfully connecting the libraries in the state of Ohio, the OCLC opened up their membership to other states just over a decade later.

Once they acquired the DDC, they continued to manage and update it, adding new classifications to fit the new topics that were rapidly emerging. In 2000, Webb Dewey was launched. WebDouy is a digital version of the DDC. It can be updated and maintained instantly, allowing librarians to access new changes in real time. Librarians can search for a new title and see how other libraries have cataloged it in their collections. Records can be updated in an instant,

streamlining the process of cataloging for librarians, everywhere. By 2002, the OCLC had launched an abridged version of WebDUY, further simplifying the process. The same year, they decided to open their membership globally, giving libraries around the world the same opportunity to be part of their online resources. It would be impossible to overstate the impact that the DDC has had to be able to be able to be able to. had on libraries as a whole. However, no system is without its faults. Sadly, many of its flaws were a product of its time,

as well as the prejudices of its creator and its users over the decades. The DDC has been criticized for its emphasis on Western culture while leaving little room for other cultures. For example, 200,000, 20 to 289 is dedicated to Christianity, while all other religions are crammed into 290 to 29. Additional issues relate to how the system has classified LGBTQ plus topics. In the 1930s, these were placed under a broader category for mental illness.

They were then moved to a category relating to public moral. They've been bumped time and time again, reflecting changing attitudes. Now they can be found under sociology, and more specifically, culture and institutions, and sexual relations. Another problem is the classification of history. American history is classified under 973, topics such as women's issues and African American history are often regulated to the 300s, which are classified as social sciences. This is problematic because many of the titles that are pushed into social sciences category are most certainly part of American history. Many modern librarians firmly believe it would be

much more accurate to have them in the 973 category where they belong. A separate but very limiting issue is the matter of fiction. In the original DDC, Dewey put fiction in the 800s. However, he broke it down so fiction would be categorized by its country of origin. For most modern public libraries, using the DDC for fiction would make books significantly harder to locate instead of easier. Therefore, the majority of libraries today organized their fiction in alphabetical order. The 23rd edition of the Dewey Decimal Classification was published in 2011. Since then, print editions have essentially been replaced by an online edition of the DDC,

which is revised regularly. Naturally, many of the subjects of today, such as computer, computer science were non-existent when the classification was first published. Along with practical additions, changes are also being made to how topics are classified, as librarians become aware of the harmful inaccuracies and prejudices. The Dewey Decimal Classification had a huge impact on the world of libraries and librarianship. Without it, it is hard to imagine where libraries would be today, possibly still organizing their books as their individual librarians see fit

and not open to public browsing. And while its creator, Melville Dewey contributed so much, it is important to also acknowledge the problematic aspects of his legacy. There is no doubt that the Dewey Decimal classification made libraries better. Now it is up to libraries to make the DDC better in return.