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Independence, MO —
If such a category existed for reference archivists in the Guinness Book of World Records, Liz Safly would be a likely candidate.
Truman Library Director Michael Devine said Safly, “hands down,” would hold the record – if the category existed – for the most frequently cited reference archivist in acknowledgment pages. Devine remembered his former co-worker and the Truman Library & Museum’s research room supervisor of 47 years, who died Wednesday in Jefferson City at the age of 78.
She was a woman well known for helping everyone from well-known historians and researchers to high school students and interns, Devine said on Friday.
“She had this personal connection with Truman,” Devine said, adding that Safly started working at the library during a time when Truman himself still had an office there. “She helped, really, thousands of researchers over the years.”
Most famously, Safly aided author David McCullough during his decade of researching for the 1992 book “Truman,” which won the Pulitzer Prize.
“Liz Safly’s helping to me was invaluable,” McCullough said in a 2007 speech at the Truman Library, as quoted in the fall 2009 edition of the WhistleStop Truman Library Institute newsletter. “I [gained] insights into Mr. Truman’s life … that I would have missed entirely if it had not been for Liz.”
Safly began working at the library in 1962. She worked as the research room librarian for 47 years, witnessing the development of the library and museum. She also helped compile the inventory of the Truman Home in 1981 and 1982.
She was initially responsible for transcribing oral histories (about 600 interviews) of people who knew Harry Truman or had worked in his administration. She retired from the library in 2009.
A graduate of William Chrisman High School, Safly was born in 1933 in Independence, where she lived for most of her life, except for brief residences in New York, Germany and California.
On Aug. 15 and 16, 1990, Safly sat in the Truman Home’s living room and conducted an extensive oral history interview with the National Park Service.
During the oral interview, Safly said, in response to how well she knew Harry Truman, “Not at all.” She described the then-former president as very normal and very friendly who liked everybody at the library.
“Oh, he was at the library, I guess, the first four, four and a half years that I was there, and he was at the office almost every day unless he was traveling,” she said. “He used to walk through and speak to everybody. I was always impressed with how friendly he was.”
If such a category existed for reference archivists in the Guinness Book of World Records, Liz Safly would be a likely candidate.
Truman Library Director Michael Devine said Safly, “hands down,” would hold the record – if the category existed – for the most frequently cited reference archivist in acknowledgment pages. Devine remembered his former co-worker and the Truman Library & Museum’s research room supervisor of 47 years, who died Wednesday in Jefferson City at the age of 78.
She was a woman well known for helping everyone from well-known historians and researchers to high school students and interns, Devine said on Friday.
“She had this personal connection with Truman,” Devine said, adding that Safly started working at the library during a time when Truman himself still had an office there. “She helped, really, thousands of researchers over the years.”
Most famously, Safly aided author David McCullough during his decade of researching for the 1992 book “Truman,” which won the Pulitzer Prize.
“Liz Safly’s helping to me was invaluable,” McCullough said in a 2007 speech at the Truman Library, as quoted in the fall 2009 edition of the WhistleStop Truman Library Institute newsletter. “I [gained] insights into Mr. Truman’s life … that I would have missed entirely if it had not been for Liz.”
Safly began working at the library in 1962. She worked as the research room librarian for 47 years, witnessing the development of the library and museum. She also helped compile the inventory of the Truman Home in 1981 and 1982.
She was initially responsible for transcribing oral histories (about 600 interviews) of people who knew Harry Truman or had worked in his administration. She retired from the library in 2009.
A graduate of William Chrisman High School, Safly was born in 1933 in Independence, where she lived for most of her life, except for brief residences in New York, Germany and California.
On Aug. 15 and 16, 1990, Safly sat in the Truman Home’s living room and conducted an extensive oral history interview with the National Park Service.
During the oral interview, Safly said, in response to how well she knew Harry Truman, “Not at all.” She described the then-former president as very normal and very friendly who liked everybody at the library.
“Oh, he was at the library, I guess, the first four, four and a half years that I was there, and he was at the office almost every day unless he was traveling,” she said. “He used to walk through and speak to everybody. I was always impressed with how friendly he was.”
Condolences for Safly were made Friday afternoon on the Library & Museum’s Facebook page.
“Liz’s desk in the research room was like the pilot hour on a ship!” wrote Jack Nesbitt.
As a college student, Nancy Hendershot Reis wrote, she spent a week at the library doing research for her senior thesis.
“Ms. Safly was as gracious, supportive and hospitable as if I had been a high-profile historian working on the next bestseller,” Reis wrote. “Her helpful suggestions led me to sources that I never would have found otherwise. What a wonderful lady she was.”
Safly also was a great organizer of staff functions, Devine said, including holiday-related luncheons. One of her favorite events to organize was a Battery D chili lunch, named after Truman’s World War I unit. According to folklore, Devine said, the men in the unit enjoyed a famous chili recipe. Safly would cook up the chili for work, and others brought items like cornbread and desserts for the potluck.
“We miss those kinds of things that Liz would do,” Devine said. “She went above and beyond in helping researchers – that’s why so many of them remember her fondly. She maintained a fun, helpful atmosphere in the research room.”
