Blog number two in our Women’s History Month series looks at Constance Garnett (née Black, 1861-1946).
Constance was the Head Librarian of the People’s Palace and later an English translator of nineteenth-Century Russian literature.
Constance studied Latin and Greek at Cambridge aided by a government scholarship. Following this, she moved to London in 1883 to work as a governess. In 1887 she was appointed as Head Librarian at the People’s Palace Library, which opened in September of that year, earning an annual salary of £100. The library, which contained less than 10,000 volumes upon opening and received most books as donations or gifts, was staffed completely by women at a time when librarians were typically men. Before Constance and her colleague Frances Low were appointed at the People’s Palace, the only other library in London to employ women was Notting Hill Library.
In 1889 Constance wrote an article titled New Career for Women. Librarians published in The Queen describing her work in the People’s Palace Library. The Queen, a women’s periodical, often ran articles to show the expanding career opportunities for middle-class women alongside comments on the call for wider access to political and social rights. Whilst highlighting the uniqueness of her post by noting that only one or two libraries at that time employed women, Constance stated that with several women already employed in libraries, she was confidently hopeful that more women could find ‘congenial employment and a modest remuneration’ in the ever increasing number of free libraries.
Among the skills described by Constance in her article as necessary or invaluable for a librarian were; a knowledge of books and the book trade, patience, a sense of humour, business training or in the absence of this ‘punctuality and accuracy in every detail,’ and some general knowledge or instruction in arts, sciences, and languages. Although, Constance noted that the most important quality a librarian should possess was ‘a sympathetic tolerance of the never-ending irregularities and mistakes that must be made by young and inexperienced readers.’
As the sixth of eight children, Constance’s siblings included Clementine Black (1853-1922) a writer, feminist, and pioneering trade unionist campaigning for working-class women’s rights and equal pay. The social reform work of her sister perhaps influenced her enthusiasm for broadening the intellectual opportunities available to the local readers at the People’s Palace. In order to allow for the schedule of working-class readers, the library opened for 14 hours every day except on Sundays when it opened for seven hours from 3:00 pm until 10:00pm.
Following her time as Head Librarian at the People’s Palace, Constance learnt Russian and began translating Russian works for publication. Constance was one of the first English translators of Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, and Chekhov, translating 71 volumes of Russian literature in her lifetime. Her translations received high acclaim with some still being reprinted today.
To learn more about the Library or the People’s Palace you can look through our gallery The Changing Face of the Library or search the People’s Palace catalogue. If you have any questions or to arrange a visit to the archives please email us at: archives@qmul.ac.uk.