Hepburn, William Murray, 1874-

Dates

• Existence: July 30, 1874 - November 13, 1963

Biographical Information

William Murray Hepburn, author, historian, librarian, and administrator, was born in Pictou, Nova Scotia on July 30, 1874. He received his B.A. from Dalhousie University in 1895 and an M.A. in 1898. In 1903 he received a library science degree from the New York State Library School. He became a citizen of the United States in 1926.

Prior to arriving at Purdue University he taught at Amherst Academy in Nova Scotia, and was a librarian at both the New York State Library and the John Crerar Library, a public research library for the natural and social sciences in Chicago, Illinois.

Hepburn’s career at Purdue began in 1904 and spanned forty years. He led the Purdue library system through construction of the first free standing library on campus, the General Library, in 1913; a major stack addition in 1934; and the creation in the 1920s of departmental libraries for agriculture, biology, chemical engineering, chemistry, mathematics, pharmacy, and physics. Hepburn is credited with developing many of the Libraries’ early special collections, including the monograph collections. As a bibliographer he compiled a number of guides to collections. He also served as bibliographer and curator for the Goss Library of the History of Engineering for some time.

Hepburn was active in the Indiana Library Association and served on many committees, as well as serving as its president in 1910. He was also active in the American Library Association. During World War I he was the state director of the Library War Service for Indiana from 1917-18, and in 1918 served as the librarian of Camp Humphreys, Virginia.

Hepburn was a member of the Indiana Historical Society and a charter member of the Board of Directors of the Tippecanoe County Historical Association, serving from 1925 to 1957. He was also active in the Parlor Club, as an officer from 1921-1960 and as its archivist from 1932-1960, and the University Club where he served as its president, sat on the board of the Tippecanoe County Tuberculosis Association, and served on many university committees. He was a noted local historian and author. His most famous work was Purdue University: 50 Years of Progress (1924) which he co-authored.

Hepburn retired from Purdue in 1944 and died in Richmond, Indiana on November 13, 1963.

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