Biography:Robert L. Birch
Robert L. Birch | |
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| Born | August 9, 1925 Mobile, Alabama |
| Died | July 26, 2005 (aged 79) Falls Church, Virginia |
| Occupation | Librarian |
| Known for | National Trivia Day |
Robert Louis Birch (August 9, 1925 – July 26, 2005) was an American librarian known for creating National Trivia Day and other lesser-known holidays such as Swap Ideas Day and Lumpy Rug Day.[1][2] National Trivia Day is celebrated in the United States and Canada and is seen as a way for organizations to share interesting facts about their subject areas.[3][4] The holiday was first celebrated in 1980.[5] Birch founded the Puns Corp, intended to help people have fun with words.[6]
Birch was born in Mobile, Alabama, 1925 and grew up in Cuba. He got a degree from the University of Miami, Florida, with a double major in literature and philosophy and earned a master's degree in library science from the Catholic University of America in 1958. He served in the military during the Korean War.[7]
Birch worked for the Patent Office Scientific Library and at the National Agricultural Library, each for ten years. He worked on a research project with the Science Index Group determining a way to make writing or speeches maximally intelligible. This work was centered around translations of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.[8][9] He did other library research into wording styles of material titles to determine what would make them most efficiently retrieved.[10] He also published papers about Lincoln's speech style that suggested Lincoln was making use of similar wording and memory techniques.[11] Birch was the president of the Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia.[12]
Birch co-authored the book Memory Dynamics: A complete Memory System with Judge William Fauver which outlined how people could use "coded memory pictures" to recall information.[13] He did presentations about these memory systems to professional librarian associations.[14]
Birch lived in Falls Church, Virginia. He and his wife Grace had eight children.
References
- ↑ "Robert Birch Obituary (2005)". Culpeper News. https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/culpepernews/obituary.aspx?n=robert-louis-birch&pid=14864693.
- ↑ Slotek, Jim (2016-12-17). "Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and a joyous A'phabet Day to you". Toronto Sun. https://torontosun.com/2016/12/17/merry-christmas-happy-holidays-and-a-joyous-aphabet-day-to-you.
- ↑ Dailey, Bonnie (2022-01-04). "SWCD celebrates National Trivia Day". https://www.delgazette.com/news/94206/swcd-celebrates-national-trivia-day.
- ↑ Parsons, McKenzy (2022-01-04). "Here's some useless information for you! It's National Trivia Day!". https://fox42kptm.com/news/local/heres-some-useless-information-for-you-its-national-trivia-day.
- ↑ Team, PWLiving Editorial (2022-01-03). "Celebrate National Trivia Day on Jan. 4". https://princewilliamliving.com/celebrate-national-trivia-day-on-jan-4/.
- ↑ "Puns Corps Company Profile". https://www.dnb.com/business-directory/company-profiles.puns_corps.d03a732179332f4b80a402334b70cbca.html.
- ↑ "Announcing the passing of Robert (Bob) Birch on 2005 July 25". 2005-09-01. http://users.erols.com/jbirch/rlb/memorial.htm.
- ↑ "Lincoln's Gettysburg Address : Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection". 2021-12-20. https://archive.org/details/lincolnsgettysbulinc_13.
- ↑ Current Research and Development in Scientific Documentation. NSF 58. National Science Foundation, Office of Science Information Service. 1964. p. 1-PA64. https://books.google.com/books?id=hErRufTtAoQC&pg=RA1-PA64. Retrieved 2022-01-04.
- ↑ National Science Foundation (U.S.) (1961). Scientific Information Notes. National Science Foundation.. p. 13. https://books.google.com/books?id=BSfZ98tKozwC&pg=PA13. Retrieved 2022-01-04.
- ↑ "Journal of Irreproducible Results". 1995. https://archive.org/details/sim_journal-of-irreproducible-results_1995-07_40_2.
- ↑ "Congressional Record August 13, 1969 – September 10, 1969". 1969-08-13. https://archive.org/details/sim_congressional-record-proceedings-and-debates_august-13-1969-september-10-1969_115.
- ↑ Memory dynamics : a complete memory system (Book, 1981) [WorldCat.org]. OCLC 7310511.
- ↑ National Agricultural Library (U.S.); Technical Information Systems (U.S.) (1975). Agricultural Libraries Information Notes. Technical Information Systems, Science and Education Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture. p. 14-PA2. https://books.google.com/books?id=Nm_OT5_HUmgC&pg=RA14-PA2. Retrieved 2022-01-04.
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