WestConn’s first librarian, Ella Mead Brush

WestConn was founded in 1903 and its first graduating class was in 1906.  From its founding, WestConn had a library and its first librarian was a graduate of Smith College in Amherst, MA, who held the position for more than eight years.

The original library in Old Main now is home to the Department of Admissions, but for sixty years it was the college’s only library.

Black and white photo. White woman in a white floral dress, with glasses and brown hair in an updo. She has a metallic object on her belt. To her left is a black woman in a grey dress with a white lace collar, her hair in an updo parted in the middle. Below the black woman is another white woman, also in a white floral dress, with a large black bow at her throat. She might have glasses on. There are white specs on the image from age. Behind the women is a brick building. There's a man's shoulder cut cut-off to their right, in a pinstripe suit.
Ella Mead Brush from the class of 1906 picture next to Katherine Butler (https://archives.library.wcsu.edu/omeka/items/show/2091)
Sepia yearbook portrait. Woman with a large updo and glasses, wearing a high-collared blouse or dress. Caption reads "Ella Mead Brush, Danbury, Conn."
Ella from her Smith College yearbook (https://archive.org/details/class1904smit/page/n23/mode/2up?q=brush)
  • Birth: 20 Sep 1876, in either Greenwich or New Fairfield, Fairfield County, Connecticut, USA
  • Her parents were Alexander B. Brush, a prosperous farmer, and Mary Louisa Mead, both of New Fairfield
  • Death: 25 Oct 1931 (aged 55), Greenwich, Fairfield County, Connecticut, USA
  • Graduated from Smith College class of 1904
  • Librarian at WestConn until 1912. 
  • Went on to be a librarian in Greenwich, CT.
  • Died of a cerebral embolism while living with her sister Emma in Asheville, NC
  • She had 3 sisters