ABSTRACT
The National Gerontology Resource Center is supported and funded by the National Retired Teachers Association-American Association of Retired Persons (NRTA-AARP), a membership organization of 12 million persons age 55 and over, and is located at their headquarters building in Washington, D.C. It was founded as the Associations' library in the mid-1960s, concomitant with two major developments which occurred at the Associations at approximately the same time: the establishment of their innovative and highly successful Institute of Lifetime Learning program, which offered continuing education opportunities to retired persons, primarily through daytime courses in the arts and the humanities; and the development of a Washington-based NRTA-AARP national affairs office designed to strengthen and promote the interests of older Americans through input into the legislative process. From the beginning, the library was designated as a research and technical, rather than a recreational, collection; this orientation reflected the background of the NRTA-AARP founder and first president, Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus, who as a retired California high school principal, devoted great time and energy to early efforts to educate the public, legislators, and the elderly themselves about the continuing potential for creativity and productivity in later life. Editorials written by Dr. Andrus in the early years of NRTA and AARP document her pioneering efforts to overcome stereotypes of the elderly as lonely, senile, withdrawn, and unable to contribute to society. Beginning in the 1950s, her continuing calls for an end to mandatory retirement stressed the productive capabilities of older persons, and their continuing right and need to contribute to society. Though there is little written record, the establishment of a gerontological library collection at NRTA-AARP was most probably intended to support the presentation of a factual and positive view of the elderly as active, committed and contributing members of society.
