Daily AncestorLibrarian
A librarian kept and managed a library, caring for its books and records and helping readers find them.
Wiktionary defines a librarian as the keeper or manager of a library, and dates the word to around 1710. The role has changed greatly over the last century with the arrival of new media and technologies.
The 1900 census instructions list librarian among the professions to be named exactly, next to journalist, lawyer and musician.
As seen in a recordOccupation and industry columns of the 1910 to 1940 census
Edith Marchbanks, 38, Librarian, Public library
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Librarian." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/librarian. Last checked 2026-10-12.