Mary Rudd Cochran (1881-1982, A.B. 1903) was born in Mt. Auburn, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati, on July 14, 1881. She was the first child of William C. Cochran (1848-1936, A.B. 1869) and Rosa Dale Allen Cochran (1851-1926). The Cochran-Allen union was interconnected with Oberlin's other great families, including the Coxes, Finneys, and Rudds. As the eldest child of a family with a state and national reputation, Mary Rudd Cochran assumed responsibility of the family papers for over four decades and created a collection of her own.
The oldest of five Cochran children, Mary Rudd Cochran attended Woodward High School in Cincinnati. Upon graduation in the spring of 1899, she enrolled the following fall at Oberlin College where she resided in Talcott Hall. Cochran was a very good student, taking several challenging courses in language (German and Greek), bibliography (library courses taught by college librarian A.S. Root), and history. Armed with a college degree, work experience at the Oberlin College Library, and a love for books, Cochran desired to pursue librarianship as a career. Before she set out to work, Miss Cochran spent a few years helping run the family household in Mt. Auburn. In addition to housekeeping and assisting at the Mt. Auburn Presbyterian Church and Young Women's Christian Association, she found time to travel with family and friends in the United States, Europe, and Asia. She also pursued her hobby of reading, and kept in contact with her college friends through Oberlin College class letters.
Beginning in 1905, Cochran began almost forty continuous years of service as a librarian at institutions in Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Columbus, Ohio. Between 1905 and 1914, Cochran worked as a cataloger and branch librarian at the Cincinnati Public Library, eventually rising to the position of Chief Children's Librarian. During her first stint in Cincinnati, she helped open a library branch in the black neighborhood of Walnut Hills. Many believed it was the first such library in the northern United States. In 1914, Cochran left Cincinnati for Columbus, Ohio, taking a position as librarian and office manager at the Ohio Institute for Public Efficiency. Desiring to return to the public library setting, in 1916 Cochran accepted a position to lead the sociological division of the Cleveland Public Library. She returned to her hometown in 1924 and became the head of the reference section at the University of Cincinnati. Five years later in 1929, Cochran returned to the Cincinnati Public Library to lead the reference department; and, later, she was named branch librarian until her retirement, at age 63, in 1944. In retirement, Cochran left Mt. Auburn in 1951 and moved to New Richmond, Ohio, where she would live until 1962. Between 1962 and until her death in 1982, she resided at a retirement home in Monroe, Ohio.
Throughout her long career, Cochran was active within the library profession. She was a member of the Ohio Library Association, serving as its treasurer in 1918 and vice-president in 1919. Being named to head the Ohio Library Association's Committee on Libraries in State Institutions in 1945 was a climax to her long time interest in correctional facilities' libraries. Committed to improve them, it led Cochran to write two articles: "State Institution Libraries in Ohio," which appeared in a 1918 edition of Library Journal , and "The Library in a Correctional Institution&emdash;Its Contents," a 1961 submission for the American Journal of Correction. In 1929, Cochran also authored a piece for Library Journal titled, "The Acquisition and Care of Special Collections."
As a supporter of women's issues, Cochran belonged to several women's organizations, most notably the Business and Professional Women's Club. This group, which was founded in 1916, was designed to keep women informed of issues in business and government and to expand the woman's role in the workplace and in politics. Supporting the organization's views and goals, Cochran helped found the Cleveland chapter in 1919, becoming its first president. She also headed the Cincinnati chapter of the Business and Professional Women's Club from 1937 to 1938, and she served as delegate to this bodies' national convention in 1939. Interested in pursuing and fulfilling the organization's goals, she authored several pieces. Her 1925 essay, "Five Reasons Why I like To Work For Women," won a contest sponsored by Independent Women, the official magazine of the National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Club. Cochran would remain active with the group until her death in 1982. Cochran was also a founding member of the Clermont County League of Women Voters. Other organizations Cochran belonged to were the Cincinnati Teacher's Association, the Social Worker's Club, and the College Club, as well as lecturing at the College for Teachers and the Kindergarten Training School in Cincinnati.
Mary Rudd Cochran was also interested in world affairs. This was reflected in her travels around the world, including visiting Europe on four occasions, Mexico three times, and South America twice, as well as her membership in the Cincinnati Council of World Affairs. Cochran felt that travel was an opportunity for people to gain better understanding of different cultures. To further promote world peace and to show a sign of her support, Cochran faithfully flew the United Nations flag at her homes in New Richmond and Monroe, Ohio. In 1951, she even sponsored an Austrian family living in China to immigrate to the United States to fulfill her dreams of cross-culture understanding, hoping such acts would lead to a better and more peaceful world.
Besides her interest in traveling, women's issues, politics, and librarianship, Cochran was a loyal graduate of the Oberlin College Class of 1903. She kept track by way of class letters of the whereabouts of many of her classmates. She even created a necrology. Cochran helped establish the Cleveland Alumnae Association in 1919, and she served as its first president. She was also the 1919 president of the Cleveland Alumni Club and vice-president, in 1925, of the Cincinnati Alumni Club. In her later years, Cochran would serve as class president during the 1960s and 1970s. She found herself often traveling to Oberlin to attend reunions and commencement. Over the years, Cochran financially contributed generously to the annual fund of Oberlin College.
Mary Rudd Cochran never married. The family she grew up in and her work were always central in her life. While working in Cincinnati, she continued to live at the Cochran family home, 1245 Gillman Street, with her parents. She would inherit the home, along with the Cox property next door, after the deaths of her mother and father. When Cochran lived in Cleveland and Columbus, she wrote home faithfully and often traveled to Cincinnati to visit family and friends. It is safe to say that Miss Cochran was extremely proud of her family heritage.
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