Cogswell, Joseph Green

Cogswell, Joseph Green (kŏgz`wĕl, –wəl), 1786–1871, American librarian and bibliographer, b. Ipswich, Mass. After studying abroad, Cogswell taught mineralogy and geology at Harvard and became librarian in 1821. In 1823 he helped to found the Round Hill School at Northampton, Mass. He superintended the Astor Library in New York City (now part of the New York Public Library) and was librarian from 1848 to 1861 and trustee to 1864. He prepared an alphabetical and analytic catalog for the library, which was printed at his own expense and was the basis for the later card catalog.

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Cogswell, Joseph Green (1786–1871) librarian; born in Ipswich, Mass. A graduate of Harvard (1806), he traveled for various merchant ventures, studying for a time at Göttingen, Germany. In 1820 he was named librarian of Harvard Library and professor of geology there; he reclassified the library on the Göttingen model. He helped establish the Round Hill School in Northampton, Mass. (1823), edited the New York Review, and was superintendent of the Astor Library in New York (1848–61).