The Molesworth Institute was founded by
Norman D. Stevens and Francis A.T. Johns who were friends and fellow students attending
Rutgers University's library science program. In 1956, they made up the Molesworth Institution in their course paper. Some of the employees' names were inspired by other sources:
Cecily Cardew is a young lady in the Oscar Wilde play
The Importance of Being Earnest. Stevens wrote an article about Molesworth Institute that appeared in 1963 in the
ALA Bulletin, the first time he had written a published article about the organization. Steven wrote a
Wikipedia article about the Molesworth Institute, which led Wikipedia editors to challenge portions of the material, and modified UCLA Library Reference Department's wiki to include Timothy Peason, the fake librarian. Stevens aggressively called attention to his humor by writing around 60 articles where he gave his title as director of the fictitious organization. The articles have been published in Italy, Brazil, France, England, Sweden. Stevens' book
Archives of Library Research from the Molesworth Institute has been reviewed in the
Australian Academic & Research Libraries (AARL), the
Canadian Library Journal,
The Journal of Academic Librarianship, and the
Herald of Library Science. Although Stevens initially intended to be the sole director of the institute, he changed his mind and specified that Chelsea Flower, his granddaughter, would be the Director Designate. For over four decades, the organization had the same address as Stevens'
Storrs, Connecticut, house. == References ==