Edward Christopher Williams received his bachelor’s degree from Adelbert College (the undergraduate men’s division of Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio) in 1892 as the valedictorian of his class. In 1894, he was appointed librarian of Adelbert College. When he graduated from the New York State Library School in 1900, Williams became the first professionally trained black librarian in America as well as the first black person to earn his livelihood in the field of librarianship, according to Eliza A. Gleason. Williams devoted a great deal of his time to collection building at WRU and laid the foundation for the present eminence of the collection there. When Western Reserve established a library school in 1904, Williams was appointed Instructor in bibliography and reference work, teaching courses in "Public Documents" and "The Criticism and Selection of Books."

After 15 years at WRU, E. C. Williams resigned his position in August 1909 to assume the principalship of M Street High School in the nation’s capital. M Street School had a reputation of educating an inordinately large number of students who went on to greater heights after pursuing college. Williams brought to the school "the richest and most varied" scholarship of any principal in the school’s history. He left M Street School in June 1916 to become Professor of Bibliography, Director of the Library Training Class, and Librarian of Howard University. In addition to his duties as librarian-instructor, he also served as director of student organization, member of the University-wide Library Committee, associate faculty editor of the Howard University Record, and a teacher in the Romance Languages Department. A deep thinker, a hard worker, and a scholar, Mr. Williams worked with missionary zeal and enthusiasm to fulfill these roles.

Williams was also an accomplished writer and wrote The Exile, an Italian classical two-act drama; The Sheriff’s Children, an adaptation of Charles W. Chesnutt’s short story; and The Chasm, in collaboration with Willis Richardson. He penned a series of articles that were published in the Messenger from 1925 to 1926 based on the foibles of black society in Washington, DC.

On May 30, 1928, Edward Williams, a member of the American Library Association, addressed a session of ALA’s College and Reference section about "Library Needs of Negro Institutions." Williams’ years at Howard were plagued with library problems – namely, an inadequate library building, not enough professional staff, and a lack of money for books. In spite of these significant obstacles, E. C. Williams was steadfast in encouraging young black men and women to develop their minds through an unending and ceaseless quest for knowledge. His own passion for intellectual growth and fulfillment led him in his fifty-eighth year to take leave from Howard University and study for his Ph.D. degree at Columbia University. On December 24, 1929, during his sabbatical year at Columbia and after a short illness, this brilliant librarian died.

Source: E.J. Josey and Ann Allen Shokley, eds., Handbook of Black Librarianship (Littleton, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1977): 30-31; E.J. Josey, "Edward Christopher Williams: A Librarian's Librarian," Journal of Library History 4 (April 1969): 106-122.