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The Horner Japanese Exchange Fellowship was established in 1988 under the auspices of the Arizona Library Association through the generosity and foresight of the late Dr. Layton "Jack" Horner and his wife, Marian. The mission of this unique fellowship is to foster cultural and informational exchanges between librarians from Japan and from the State of Arizona in the United States of America.
Layton Horner's life-long-interest in Japan and his respect and affinity for the Japanese people began while earning his Master's degree at Yale Divinity School (1938). There he met Saburo Matsuyama of Kyoto, Japan his roommate and lifelong friend. From 1947 to 1949 Mr. Horner was assigned to the combined civilian and U.S. Shizuoka Military Government Team as chief Civil Education and Information Officer. His task was to assist in reorganizing the education system. An interesting outcome of this sojourn was an English Study reader written by Dr. Horner and Professor Inamura entitled, "Jack and Betty". Later in life Dr. Jack Horner became a Professor of Japanese History and Culture and wrote two insightful books concerning Japanese and American culture, "The Japanese and the Americans" and "On Both Sides of the Pacific". Throughout their lives Jack and Marian Horner visited Japan over twenty times, hosted Japanese friends, colleagues and students and promoted understanding and cultural exchanges between the two countries. The Horner Japanese Exchange Fellowship continues this tradition. To date six (6) Horner Fellows have had the opportunity to experience the uniqueness of Japan's rich and ancient culture and to share information with their colleagues. As a result, a network of professional and personal contacts has begun to flourish and librarians in Arizona have had the pleasure of hosting several visits from Japanese colleagues and friends. One of the original objectives of the Horner Fellowship was to develop a reciprocal exchange. It is the hope of the current AzLA Horner Japanese Exchange Fellowship Committee to begin exploring ways with our Japanese colleagues to make this dream a reality. |