Early life The son of Irish immigrants Charles Peter and Mary Ewing Evans, Evans was born in
Boston, Massachusetts, on November 13, 1850. Evans' parents both died before he was ten years old, at which point Evans and eventually his older brother, Thomas John, were sent to live and study at the Boston Asylum and Farm School for Indigent Boys on
Thompson Island. In this donation, he is quoted as saying that because of the Boston Asylum and Farm School, he came to value and live by "obedience, fidelity, individual character and industry. Possessed of these, there is nothing which may not be obtained in life". In 1914, Evans was invited back to address students and guests at the school's 100th anniversary celebration.
Early stages of Evans' career Evans studied under
Samuel Eliot—a trustee of the
Boston Athenaeum—at the Boston Asylum and Farm School, and made such an impression on him that by the time Evans turned 16, on June 12, 1866, Eliot had hired him as assistant librarian at the Boston Athenaeum. It was here that Evans met
William Frederick Poole, the librarian who would make the biggest impact on Evans' life when it came to his knowledge and appreciation for the organization and classification in libraries. Years later into his career, Evans would recommend Poole join the
American Library Association. • 1884-1887 Organizer and Assistant Librarian at the
Enoch Pratt Free Library in
Baltimore, MD In 1901, Evans was dismissed from his post as librarian at the
McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago due to his quarreling over which classification to use – the committee wished to use
Charles Cutter's system (which organized books by subject), while Evans demanded that they use the classification system he was both used to and fond of. Around the same time, Evans compiled his
Charter, Constitution, By-laws, Roll of Membership, MDCCCLVI-MDCCCCI: List of Officers and Members, MDCCCCI (Chicago, 1901, printed for the Society) with several glaring factual errors, but when he refused to republish it correctly, they fired him. Originally, Evans stored his notecards in corset boxes with the dates contained within written on the illustration's waistline. The first volume was published by Evans himself and covered the span of 1639-1740. The entire Evans Collection was eventually photographed and put onto microfilm, and is available at many research libraries. A
paywalled fully searchable digital edition titled
Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans, 1639-1980 is for sale from
Readex, as part of its Archive of Americana.
Other writings Evans was also actively involved in both
Library Journal and
Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, and he was known to write for them from time to time, as well.
Marriage and children Evans married Lena Young, who supported and encouraged his work efforts, on April 8, 1883. • Gertrude, born 1884 • Eliot Howland, born 1886 • Charles Sumner, born 1888, who became a well-known golfer later in life.
Chick Evans • Constance Evans, born 1889
Death Charles and Lena remained married until her death on October 5, 1933. Charles Evans died of a stroke on February 8, 1935, and was buried at Memorial Park Cemetery in Skokie, Illinois. ==Honors, awards and memberships==