Miss Estelle Lutrell: an exhibit about UA Library History

1932 - 1950: The Later Years

The 1947 Phi Kappa Phi group.

In 1932, Miss Lutrell retired from her position as full-time librarian at the University of Arizona. She would continue working at the University in a part-time capacity as an advisor to the Library and teaching English. She remained actively involved in various library organizations and with Phi Kappa Phi.

The Friends' distinctive 1940s letterhead.

Miss Lutrell also wrote and published numerous works, including a detailed account of life at the University of Arizona during the first World War. It included an extensive list of all students and faculty serving in the war effort and identified the military and civilian branches to which they belonged. She also began writing an exhaustive history of the University of Arizona, which she never finished. Although this manuscript remains unpublished, it has served as an important primary source document by providing facts about many people and events up until the mid-twentieth century, which subsequent writers have used for writing their histories of the University of Arizona. (please see “A Bibliography of Estelle Lutrell’s Written Works Compiled by Dr. Berkhout” on this website).

Miss Lutrell never married. She died in 1950 after a remarkable life and career, leaving no descendants. She is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Tucson, next to her mother and her cousin Frances. Her papers are in the University of Arizona Library’s Special Collections chiefly under the call number AZ 055.