John Langdon Sibley

Who was John Langdon Sibley?

John Langdon Sibley was the librarian of Harvard University from 1856 to 1877.

Sibley was the son of Dr. Jonathan Sibley and his wife, née Persis Morse. He received his undergraduate education from Harvard and then studied at Harvard Divinity School. From 1829-1833 he was a pastor in Stow, Massachusetts. He then went to Cambridge, Massachusetts where he worked as a magazine editor. When Harvard's first purpose-built library building, Gore Hall, was opened in 1841 he was appointed the assistant librarian under Thaddeus William Harris. In 1856 when Harris died Sibley became the librarian of Harvard.

On 30 May 1866 Sibley married Charlotte Augusta Langdon Cook, at Sommerville, Massachusetts.

Sibley oversaw both the physical and fiscal expansion of the Harvard Library. He also compiled the initial volumes of Sibley's Harvard Graduates and bequeathed funds to the Massachusetts Historical Society for continuation of this project. Clifford K. Shipton published 14 more volumes and in 1999 an 18th volume appeared.