Catharine Frances Heinz; Founder of Broadcast Pioneers Library

Catharine Frances Heinz, 77, founding director of the national Broadcast Pioneers Library. Born in Anaheim, she was educated at Rosary College in River Forest, Ill., and Columbia University and served in the Navy during World War II. Heinz went on to work as a teacher and librarian at the Orange County Free Library, at St. Vincent’s College and Academy in Shreveport, La., and in New York at the United Hospital Fund library bureau. She developed an affinity for broadcasting while assisting WCBS and other New York stations on book drives and promotions. In 1959, Heinz helped organize the Television Information Office in New York and worked there for 12 years. When the Broadcast Pioneers Library was created in Washington in 1971, Heinz was hired to organize it and collect broadcast history memorabilia. She remained at the helm of the library and served as vice president of the Broadcast Pioneers Educational Fund Inc. until her retirement in 1995. Largely because of Heinz’s efforts, the library grew to 10,000 books, 2,000 radio scripts, 22,000 photographs, 50,000 clippings, 4,000 sound recordings, 900 oral history tapes and 70 videotapes and films. On Thursday in Lake Forest, Calif.