Samuel Haverstick Ranck was born near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, October 23, 1866, the oldest son of Jacob Eby and Martha Bausman (Haverstick) Ranck. At age 16, Ranck went to First Pennsylvania Normal School for two years and taught at a rural district school in Lancaster County for the winters of 1885-1886 and 1886-1887 before finishing his education. He graduated with an A.B. from Franklin and Marshall College in 1892. He also received his master’s degree there in 1895 by writing a thesis entitled “The Early History of the Struggle for the Higher Education of Women.”

Ranck started out his college career as a geology major, but found that he had a natural love for books. During his freshman year of college, he was selected to be an assistant in the Goethean Literary Society Library. For two years he served as librarian, during which he reorganized and re-catalogued approximately 6,000 volumes. In 1892, three months before his graduation, he went to the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, Maryland and became a librarian’s assistant. In 1898, he became assistant librarian, a position he held until 1904 when he excepted a job offer from the Grand Rapids Public Library to be a librarian.

Under Ranck’s administration, the number of volumes the Grand Rapids Public Library owned increased from 60,000 to 400,000. He also succeeded in building what was said to be the largest and most important collection of books on furniture in America. He changed the library card membership from two years to four and within a year, the number of library cards increased. He allowed non-residents to become members for a fee and the non-resident children who attended the public school to be treated like resident children. He also made it possible for traveling men and transients to check out books and for corporations, societies and other institutions to be able to check-out more books than before. He also contributed a number of writings on the problems of financing, heating and ventilating a library.

As an outdoor lover, Ranck’s favorite hobby was canoeing and he succeeded in canoeing nearly 60 rivers in the United States and wrote several books about his voyages. He also spent most of his summers on his Woodbrooke Farm tending his 35 acres of land. As an active member of the Grand Rapids community, Ranck founded the Grand Rapids branch of the Anti-Tuberculosis Society in 1905 and served as president for two years (1934-1936), when he later became honorary vice president. He also served as secretary for the Grand Rapids Historical Society (1905-?) and as chairman for the Citizens Committee, which was responsible for inaugurating the block system for numbering houses in Grand Rapids. Ranck was also a member and secretary of the Executive Committee of the Campau Centennial Celebration in 1926. In 1928, he was secretary-treasurer of the Board of Trustees of the David Wolcott Kendal Memorial School of Art. He was also a director of the Grand Rapids branch of the Izaak Walton League of America and president of the Phi Beta Kappa Grand Rapids branch (1925). He belonged to the University of Michigan Alumni Club of Grand Rapids and was an honorary life member of the Grand Rapids Teachers Club. He was elected as an honorary life member of the Grand Rapids Association of Commerce because of his contributions to the civic life of the community. Ranck also helped reorganize the prison libraries of Michigan State prisons. After 37 years, Ranck retired from the position of librarian on July 1, 1941.

In addition to the already mentioned positions, organizations, and associations, Ranck served as: the editor of the Franklin and Marshall College Catalog of Officers and Students (1887-1903), chairman of the Publishing Committee and editor of the Franklin and Marshall College Alumni Association’s publication (1895), contributor to the Library Journal (1896), president of the Advisory Council of Alumni of Franklin and Marshall College (1903-1925) and member (1903-1938), president of the Michigan Library Association (1905-1907) and life member of Executive Committee, member of the American Library Institute (1908-?), member of the Executive Board of the American Library Association (1915-1918) and first vice president (1921-1922), member of the Michigan State Board of Library Commissioners (1919-1921), librarian for American Library Association at Camp Custer (1918), and librarian representative for American Library Association at St. Nazaire, France, Base Section No.1, where he was put in charge of some 300 libraries(1919). Ranck was honorary member or life member of the following organizations and associations: Michigan State Horticultural Society, National Geographic Society, American Historical Association, Maryland Historical Association, Lancaster County Historical Society, Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society, Bibliographical Society of America, Camera Club, University life (a founder), Boat and Canoe Club, Furniture Designers Association, and Schubert Club.

Ranck was married to Judith Anne Blackburn, October 15, 1901, and they had three children: Elizabeth Powell (married Charles E. Hodgman), Theodore Valentine, and Wilson Marcy. Mrs. Ranck died December 4, 1936, in Grand Rapids. Samuel Ranck died Friday, December 19, 1952.