Jackson Edmund Towne (1894-1971) grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and went to college at Harvard where he graduated in 1917, and where he also obtained his Master’s degree in 1919. He then attended the University of Illinois Library School, where he obtained a Master’s of Library Science in 1922. From 1922-1924, Towne was a night librarian at Yale University and from 1924-1926, he worked in the library of the University of Iowa. In 1926, Towne was employed in the New York University library where he worked until 1928 when he left to become head librarian of the George Peabody College for Teachers in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1932, Towne came to Michigan State College (now Michigan State University) as head librarian, a position he held until his retirement in 1959. From 1960-1964, Towne was a professor of bibliography, serving concurrently as engineering librarian in 1963-1964. Towne’s published articles include many related to the disposition of books and library administration, and also include bibliographies, biographies and subjects in other areas. He worked on two large projects, one which dealt with Charles Kendall Adams who was responsible for the library buildings and programs at the University of Michigan, Cornell University and the University of Wisconsin in the late 1800s. The other project was the Douglass C. McMurtrie Collection of the MSU Library which deals with early printing in the United States, a collection which Towne processed. Towne belonged to many clubs and organizations, including library, fraternal and bibliographical groups, various MSU clubs, and others. Notable among the organizations are the Sons of the American Revolution of which he was president of the Michigan Chapter, 1947-1948, and the American Library Association, which he was active in from the 1920s to the 1960s.