Quenzel was both a librarian and professor of history at Mary Washington College. Over his lifetime he was a prolific author with 27 publications. We know him especially for History of St. George’s published in 1951. The history was written “at the suggestion of the Vestry”. No history of the church had been published since Philip Slaughter’s A History of St. George’s Parish in the previous century . Besides writing history, he served as senior warden, and with Mary Faulkner established the newsletter and served as co-editor.
Quenzel received degrees in library science from the University of Illinois and a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin. His history degrees, a BS and MA, came from the University of West Virginia.
Quenzel spent most of his professional life at Mary Washington College being a professor of history beginning in 1943. Affectionately known as “Dr. Q” by his students and friends, he considered himself a teacher first and librarian second. In his capacity as librarian he oversaw a $450,000 addition to the library which added 100,000 books to a total of 250,000. When he came to Mary Washington it had only 24,000. The renovation introduced the open-stack system of library usage which removed barriers between readers and books.
Quenzel was a past president of the Virginia Library Association and editor of the Virginia Librarian publication. In 1972 a $10,000 memorial scholarship was set up at Mary Washington in his name to aid students in their junior or senior years with preference given to students who had worked or were working in the library. If that was not possible then it would go to students majoring in history.
Quenzel ‘s estate also gave money toward ceiling lights approved by the Vestry in 1975. They were down lights created by Beasley and Hudson with 3 dimmers and were installed for Christmas of that year.