Mary Ellis Kahler, 70, a historian and a retired senior specialist in Hispanic bibliography at the Library of Congress, died June 26.

Dr. Kahler came to the Washington area in 1949 when she went to work at the Library of Congress as an intern. She became chief of the serial record division in 1957 and the Hispanic Division in 1973. From 1978 to 1981, she was field director of the Library of Congress office in Rio de Janeiro. She then returned to the Hispanic Division, where her duties included work on various Hispanic manuscripts. She retired in 1988.

Among the works she edited is The Harkness Collection in the Library of Congress: Manuscripts Concerning Mexico: A Guide.

Dr. Kahler, who lived in Falls Church, VA, was born in Santiago, Chile. She came to the United States about 1930 and grew up in Pennsylvania. She was a graduate of Swarthmore College. She received a master's degree in library science from Drexel University and a master's degree in history from George Washington University. She received a doctoral degree in history from American University.

Dr. Kahler was a past chair of the Scholarly Resources Committee of the Latin American Studies Association and a board member of the Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials. She was a member of the Society for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies, the Brazilian-American Cultural Institute, the American Historical Association, and the Society of American Archivists.

She is survived by her husband of 40 years, George W. Kahler of Falls Church, VA.

George W. Kahler
Falls Church, VA