Trump, Alfred G. (Alfred George), 1907-1994

Alfred “Al” George Trump Jr. was born on April 23, 1907, in Kahoka, Missouri, to Alfred G. Trump Sr. and Elizabeth Bonnett Trump. At the age of eleven, he moved with his family to Chicago, where he graduated from Hyde Park High School in 1924. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Germanics from the University of Chicago in 1929. He later completed an A.B.M.S. in 1933 and an A.M.L.S. in 1938 at the University of Michigan.

Before coming to South Dakota State College, Trump worked in several academic and public libraries, including the Chicago Public Library, University of Chicago Library, University of Michigan Library, Michigan State Law Library, and Virginia Junior College Library in Minnesota. He also served in the United States Navy from 1944 to 1946 with the rank of lieutenant and was stationed in the continental United States and Hawaii, where he performed intelligence work.

Trump joined South Dakota State College in Brookings in 1948 as a librarian and was the sole faculty member in the library at that time. The library held approximately 90,000 volumes and occupied only the second floor of Lincoln Library, which had been constructed to serve a student population of 900. In 1959, he was appointed director of the college libraries, a position he held until his retirement in 1972. By that time, the library occupied the entire Lincoln Library building, served approximately 6,500 students, held 270,000 volumes, and subscribed to about 3,000 journals. Additional materials were housed in Hanson Hall with 35,000 volumes, East Men’s Hall with 10,000 volumes, Shepherd Hall’s chemistry library with 15,000 volumes, and nursing facilities in St. Paul, Minnesota, with approximately 2,000 volumes. Trump attributed much of this growth to the establishment of doctoral programs beginning in 1954, noting that expanded research needs led to significant growth in scientific journal subscriptions and the development of one of the strongest research libraries in the state.

Following his retirement, Trump continued his association with South Dakota State University as archivist emeritus. He played a key role in addressing the logistical challenges of moving the library collections from Lincoln Library to the Hilton M. Briggs Library in 1977, after which he fully retired.

Trump was active in professional library organizations at the state, regional, and national levels. He served as president of the South Dakota Library Association from 1958 to 1959, represented South Dakota in the Mountain Plains Library Association, and served as South Dakota’s representative to the American Library Association, including membership on its governing council. In Brookings, he was active in St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, the Retired Teachers Association, and the South Dakota State University Retired Faculty Association.

On August 22, 1935, Trump married Anne Harris Arnold, daughter of Jacob H. Arnold and Bertha Harris Arnold, who was born on February 16, 1908, in Wilmington, North Carolina. She grew up in Washington, D.C., and Northfield, Minnesota, and attended Oberlin College, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1929 with degrees in history and Latin. She earned a master’s degree in history from Case Western Reserve University and worked at the Johns Hopkins University Library from 1932 to 1935 and the Michigan State Library in 1936. In 1960, she returned to librarianship as assistant librarian at the Brookings Public Library, where she worked until 1986. Together, Alfred and Anne Trump had four children: Michael, Peter, Jeane Gautier, and Andrew.

Alfred G. Trump Jr. died on November 26, 1994. Anne Arnold Trump died on January 11, 2004.

Field of Activity: Academic libraries--Administration
Occupation: Academic librarians, Academic library directors
Associated Groups: Lincoln Memorial Library; Hilton M. Briggs Library