Rutherford Platt Hayes was an American librarian. Hayes was the third son of Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th President of the United States. He attended Michigan State University and Cornell University, graduating in 1880. He also attended the Boston Institute of Technology. Hayes returned to his family's home in Fremont, Ohio in 1882 and went to work for the Fremont Savings Bank. Soon after he returned to Fremont, Hayes became a Trustee of the Birchard Library which was founded by his great uncle, Sardis Birchard. He introduced several progressive ideas to its management including the introduction of a children's area and sending boxes of books were sent to neighboring towns and he published the library's catalog as installments in a local paper. He was one of the founders of the Ohio Library Association in 1895 and advocated for a bill in the legislature to appointment a state library commission. Hayes was appointed to the Ohio Library Commission in 1896. Hayes left Ohio for Chicago, Illinois where he worked on library issues and developed a traveling library. He then moved to Asheville, North Carolina where he acquired large holdings of land and worked with Asheville resident Edward W. Pearson to develop African American neighborhoods in West Asheville. In North Carolina, Hayes engaged in scientific farming on a large scale. Hayes was President of the Appalachian Forest Reserve and the western North Carolina Fair. He moved to Clearwater, Florida, in 1922. In Florida, he served as chairman of the board of directors of the Clearwater Savings and Loan Association and the First Mortgage Investment Company. Throughout his life he maintained his interest in library matters, promoting those of Asheville and Clearwater and retaining his membership on the board of trustees of the library in Fremont, Ohio. He served as secretary of the American Library Association and also served as vice president and acting president from October 1897 through January 1898.
