“An Energetic Spirit Aroused” 1
Running head: “AN ENERGETIC SPIRIT AROUSED”
“An Energetic Spirit Aroused”:
The Santa Rosa Public Library
Brian Eisley
San Jose State University
“An Energetic Spirit Aroused” 2
Abstract
This paper examines the history of the public library in Santa Rosa, California, a typical
library of the western United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The library’s
history is recounted from its precursors in the 1850’s and 1860’s, to its establishment as a
social library in 1868, to its takeover by the city in 1884, through its substantial growth
through the 1890’s. The story concludes with the construction of a Carnegie library in
1903, the subsequent destruction of the building in the 1906 earthquake, and its
reconstruction and service until 1960. The author suggests that library history is a useful
tool for examining the historical forces that influence the development of the library’s
community.
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“An Energetic Spirit Aroused”:
The Santa Rosa Public Library
“Several years ago the ladies of the then small town, compared with its present size, gave entertainments of a musical, literary and terpsichorean order, and in this manner acquired quite a little fund by which a number of books were purchased. The use of these in the past year or more has been given to a few only of the members of our society. There can be no doubt, if a suitable place were located, an energetic spirit aroused, and the work begun enthusiastically, we would add to that nucleus and have soon a thorough system in movement for conducting such a benefit as a public library.”
“Public Library”, Sonoma Democrat, January 30, 1875
History is a game of context. The goal of the historian, in studying a particular era
or series of events, is often to identify overarching patterns and trends that can be applied
to similar situations, and also to examine deviations from these trends and the reasons for
these deviations. In order to do this, the historian focuses on one aspect of the period in
great detail, describing the lives of individuals and the meaning of small events, while
keeping in mind the larger picture of the society within which these events happened.
Ideally, the historian will be able to achieve a balance in perspectives, between the small
and seemingly insignificant and the large and influential, and be able to draw connections
between the two scales.
Seen in this context, library history offers a convenient means for approaching the
history of communities. Public libraries, as cultural, educational, and recreational centers,
stand at the interface between community and government, between individual members
of society and the public institutions that these individuals work together to create and
maintain. The development of public libraries in the western United States, in particular,
was intimately connected to the growth of the communities in which they were situated,
“An Energetic Spirit Aroused” 4
since libraries were often seen by citizens as a prerogative of civil society, as a means of
instilling and maintaining social order, and as an expression of the cultural sophistication
of the community (Stauffer, 2007). The goal of this paper is to explore the history of the
Santa Rosa Public Library, a typical Western public library of the late 19th and early 20th
century. Along the way, it is hoped that the development of this institution will illustrate,
in microcosm, the forces that shaped the early history of the city of Santa Rosa,
California.
A Rural Metropolis
Santa Rosa’s earliest history is poorly documented, but according to the local
Catholic diocese, the area was given its name in 1828 by Fray Juan Amoros of Sonoma,
who baptized a young Indian woman on a creek bank on the feast day of Saint Rose of
Lima (August 30). In honor of the saint, Amoros named the girl Rosa and the creek Santa
Rosa (Barrett, n.d.). Shortly after, the Asistencia de Santa Rosa de Lima was established
on the site, with a house and chapel. Following the secularization of the California
missions in 1835, the outpost was abandoned (Pope, 1962).
In 1835, General Mariano Vallejo granted the site to his mother-in-law, María
Ignacio López de Carrillo, after the death of her husband. Her home was built in 1837 on
the site of the old church outpost, and in 1841, the property became the Rancho Cabeza
de Santa Rosa; in 1846, the first American settlers began to arrive (History of Sonoma
County, 1880). Following the death of Doña Carrillo, her daughter married David
Mallagh, who started a merchandise company in the home in 1851; the first post office
was also established there (Pope, 1962). (The adobe fell into ruin in the late 19th century
and is now at the center of a redevelopment controversy.)
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Following California’s admission to the United States in 1850, settlers continued
to arrive, and the area’s population grew rapidly; the population in the 1860 census was
1,623, in 1870 2,898, and in 1880 3,616 (California State Department of Finance, n.d.).
The street grid was laid out in 1853; in 1854 Santa Rosa became the seat of Sonoma
County; the first fire department was established in 1861; the telegraph was introduced in
1864; the city was incorporated in 1868 (History of Sonoma County, 1880).
Over a period of only twenty years, therefore, the city grew from a few scattered
homesteads into the eighth-largest city in California, and it was necessary for all the usual
city institutions and services to be set up very quickly. This mirrored the situation in the
rest of the state. Until the discovery of gold in 1848, California was a sparsely populated
colonial backwater, but by 1850, its population had increased elevenfold (Held, 1963).
The Gold Rush brought statehood, vast new sources of wealth, and enormous population
growth in the cities, and public institutions had to be rapidly imported from the more
civilized eastern states. Among these institutions was the public library.
Ladies of the Club
While there are mentions in the record of short-lived attempts to establish a public
library in 1858 and 1859 (Baker, 1959), the first serious effort was made by the women
of Santa Rosa in the fall of 1868. Several of the more prominent ladies—including the
wives of some of the town founders, such as F.G. Hahman, an important early property
owner—organized a series of entertainments and performances to raise funds to buy
books for the Ladies’ Library Association. The effort received enthusiastic support from
the local newspapers; on December 19, the Sonoma Democrat praised the work of “those
ladies who have so self-sacrificingly devoted their time and talents” (“Library and Public
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School,” 1868). The same article reported that “somewhat more than $300” had been
raised to purchase books, and that an order was being prepared for a New York
bookseller. Shortly after, the paper reprinted a passionate address delivered before the
Ladies’ Library Association:
In a small though well-appointed library, we should enjoy the philosophy of
Locke and Bacon; the scientific knowledge of Newton; the researches of
Humboldt; the moral essays of Hannah More; the sublime tragedies of
Shakespeare; the delightful tales of Walter Scott and Maria Edgworth; the
glowing prose of Washington Irving; the grand old epics of Homer and Virgin;
the exquisite poetry of Moore, Milton, Byron, Burns, Shelly, Longfellow, and
Mrs. Hemans. . . . An eminent man has said that he never entered a library
without a feeling of awe and veneration. (“Book-World”, 1869).
Clearly, the town ladies’ effort to create a public library enjoyed support from a
wide swath of Santa Rosa society, and the effort was rewarded when the library opened
on May 10th, 1869. This social library charged an initiation fee of $5.00 per member and
25 cents per month (History of the Santa Rosa Public Library, 1903).
Minutes from the regular meetings of the Ladies’ Library Association have
survived, and contain some information about the library’s holdings; for instance, the
minutes of the second meeting of June 2, 1869 report an order to D. Appleton & Co., of
New York, for subscriptions to the North British Review, Westminster Review, Edinburgh
Review, and Blackwood’s Magazine, and also that the remainder of the $300 was be used
for books. Also recorded are the donations of two books, one (Sunshine and Shadow,
author not recorded) given by the association’s president, William McCullough, and the
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other (Poems of John Greenleaf Whittier) donated by a Robert Ferrall (Second Regular
Meeting, 1869).
This is the only known record of the holdings of the early library, and while it
represents a very small sample, it also indicates a fair degree of sophistication in the
tastes of the Association. The magazines are all British, with a radical philosophical bent;
the Westminster Review had recently been instrumental in the dissemination of Darwin’s
evolutionary theory. Whittier, on the other hand, had been a prominent antislavery
advocate and writer, well-known for Our Countrymen in Chains. This early library
association shows every sign of intending to grow quickly, and by the summer of 1869
they owned approximately 200 books (History of Sonoma County, 1880). Sadly, at this
point the efforts of the Ladies’ Library Association came to an abrupt end, for reasons
that are unclear; the August, September and October meetings adjourned for lack of a
quorum, and activity appears to have ceased in November (Santa Rosa Public Library,
Meeting Minutes). Shortly after, the books were given into the care of the association’s
librarian, local attorney Melville Johnson (“Public Library”, April 17, 1875).
A New Beginning
Following this strong but abortive early effort, a new library movement began in
1875, again with substantial editorial support from the newspapers. The quote used as the
epigraph to this essay, from the Sonoma Democrat of January 30, 1875, is a typical
example; the article points out that Santa Rosa should have a library, as it hoped to
become an educational center, and also suggests that the collection of 1869 could serve as
the nucleus of a new institution. On March 13, the new Santa Rosa Library Association
was created by a meeting at the courthouse, with John G. Pressley, an attorney, elected
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president; a Major John Brown, vice president; and T.B. Dalton and F. G. Nagle,
secretaries (“Library Meeting”, 1875). About 40 people joined the association at this
time. At the next meeting, on March 20, 55 more people joined, and the dues for the
library were agreed upon; the initiation fee was set at $2.50, and the monthly dues as 50
cents for men and 25 cents for women (“Library”, March 27, 1875). 56 more people
joined at the third meeting of March 27 (“Library”, April 3, 1875).
Following these successful meetings, the Democrat reported that Melville
Johnson, the custodian of the 1869 collection, had agreed to give over the books to the
trustees of the new library; in addition to these “two hundred volumes of well-selected
books, in excellent condition”, over a hundred more had been promised as donations
from the trustees (“Public Library”, April 17, 1875). The article went on:
All appreciate the necessity of good books but few are able to purchase them; by
co-operation a library, in reach of all, may be obtained at no heavy cost to any
individual. By the payment of a small sum a certificate of membership is
obtained—a light, monthly tax then puts at the disposal of a family a library such
as the wealthiest could barely afford to purchase. The habit of reading, with
access to the best literature of the day, corrects the tendency in individuals who go
little abroad, and communities who know little of others, to overestimate
themselves. It rubs off the corners of their prejudices and keeps them abreast with
the progress and advancement of the outside world. (“Public Library”, April 17,
1875)
This quote amply demonstrates the impulses that drove so many library
movements in the West in the mid-19th century: a desire to educate and broaden the
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minds of members of the community, and to connect with the wider culture outside the
town borders, through cooperative effort. Also evident is a shift of control of the library
movement from women to men; the same article mentions planning being done by “the
Board of Trustees and their admirable allies, the ladies, who have so far accomplished
most of the work done”. The organizing work having been completed by the women of
the town, the new association was to be controlled by the men, as were most of the local
institutions.
The library came together quickly after these preliminaries. In May it was
announced that the library had arranged to take four rooms on the second floor of Santa
Rosa’s new Masonic Hall, which was then in the advanced planning stages (“Library
Rooms”, 1875). Construction began on June 17, 1875 (“Masonic Hall”, 1875), and the
library moved into the new space in December (Thompson, 1877). The new library
rooms quickly became a center of social activity in Santa Rosa, “popular with readers and
chess players” (LeBaron, et al., 1985).
There appears to be little record of everyday happenings at the library during its
time at the Masonic Hall, from 1875 until 1884. Melville Dozier, a science and
mathematics professor who was principal of Santa Rosa High School (Guinn, 1907) was
appointed as librarian in 1879; the library at this time was reported to be in a
“flourishing” condition (“New Librarian”, 1879). In 1880, the Santa Rosa Library
Association voted to abolish the $2.50 initiation fee, and to convert to a flat fifty-cent
monthly fee for both men and women, in order “to enable every family in Santa Rosa to
have at least one member of the Association.” The Democrat article announcing this
change also describes the library at this point:
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The Library consists of upwards of 900 volumes, all well selected, and embracing
works of every description. The reading and chess rooms are well supplied with
periodicals and newspapers, both of the Eastern and Pacific Coast States. (“Santa
Rosa Library”, 1880).
From Private to Public
Having grown from 200 volumes to more than 900 in only five years, clearly
Santa Rosa’s social library was indeed “flourishing”. However, its time as a social library
was coming to an end. In 1884, a prominent businessman and member of the city council,
Col. Mark L. McDonald—who had helped to create Santa Rosa’s water system and
financed the city’s streetcar network (History of Sonoma County, 1880)—began a drive
to have the city take over the library and make it a free public institution (Finley, 1937;
Thompson, 1884). With support from the newspapers and local women’s organizations,
the takeover was accomplished quickly, and McDonald became president of the first
board of trustees. Melville Dozier, Judge G.A. Johnson, A.W. Riley and Robert A.
Thompson, the county historian, made up the rest of the board; a Mrs. F. Binckley was
hired as the first public librarian (Finley, 1937). The city council agreed to provide the
library with two rooms on the second floor of the new City Hall, which had been built on
the town square the previous year (Illustrated History, 1889); by 1887, the library had
already begun to outgrow its area and received additional space in a building expansion
(LeBaron, et al., 1985).
The new location in City Hall, while it made sense for the newly public
institution, soon led to a difficult situation with a neighbor. After the 1887 addition, the
city’s fire department was moved into the space below the library. Patrons were soon
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startled by the fire bell on a regular basis; but, more importantly, the fire department’s
horses were stabled directly below the reading rooms. Before long, the persistent smell
forced Mrs. Binckley to ask the fire department to move the horses; the firemen replied
that the horses and engines needed to be kept together, and that at any rate, the fire
department was more important than the library. The situation escalated until the city
council decided to separate the two agencies.
Land was found and a new library building was constructed in 1889, several
blocks away from City Hall (City of Santa Rosa, 1889); however, the library board
refused to accept the new building, because they had not been consulted on the move and
felt the new building was too far from the center of town. Once the controversy spilled
over into the newspapers, the community supported the library; many letters to the editor
appeared, including one from the famous horticulturalist Luther Burbank. Faced with
such opposition, the city council surrendered and gave the new building to the fire
department (LeBaron, et al., 1985).
During this period the library continued to be popular. Mrs. Binckley’s monthly
reports from May through December of 1888 have survived, and show that the library
served an average of 41 people per day and checked out an average of 1025 books per
month during this period. About 70 percent of the circulation was fiction; about 15
percent was juvenile fiction; history, travel, essays, and poetry made up 2 to 3 percent
each; and the balance was divided between biography, science and miscellaneous works.
Table 1 includes the complete figures. (See Appendix A for a typical monthly report from
the period.)
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Table 1 Santa Rosa Public Library reports for 1888
Source: Original reports hand-written by Mrs. F. Binckley (Santa Rosa Public Library, 1888).
Mon
th
Cou
ntry
ta
xes
($)
Fine
s ($
)
Expe
nses
($
) A
vera
ge
atte
ndan
ce
Tota
l boo
ks
regi
ster
ed
Fict
ion
Juve
nile
His
tory
Bio
grap
hy
Trav
el
Scie
nce
Essa
ys
Poet
ry
Mis
c
May 0.25 5.10 40 940 708 118 20 11 26 11 24 22
June 0.50 4.40 25 1019 764 135 18 19 25 13 11 28 6
July 2.00 2.30 25 996 692 205 18 9 24 14 22 3 9
August 0.25 3.40 26 567 441 66 17 7 10 6 16 1 3
September 1.25 2.40 0.10 53 968 636 208 12 11 27 8 46 16 4
October 2.00 5.05 50 1190 768 289 29 18 27 9 31 11 8
November 0.25 2.20 57 1215 833 277 12 9 31 8 25 14 6
December 1.75 3.65 52 1301 834 323 23 16 38 12 32 14 9
The library also appears to have been quite aggressive in its book purchases
during this period. A number of bids from book suppliers for 1888 and 1889 have
survived, from dealers such as C.A. Wright and J. Dewing in San Francisco. During this
time, the library also began a subscription to the works of the American historian Hubert
Howe Bancroft. By this time the library was regularly spending $200-300 on each
semiannual order of books, adding hundreds of volumes to the collection every year.
Under New Management
In 1890, Mrs. Binckley left the library, and a replacement needed to be found.
Several names were put forth, and after several rounds of voting, the trustees selected
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their first professional librarian, Bertha Kumli (Santa Rosa Public Library, Meeting
Minutes). Born in Minnesota about 1862, Kumli moved to Santa Rosa with her family
before her 18th birthday (Ancestry.com, 2005). After being hired by her hometown library
in 1890, she left in 1896, and then returned in 1898; she remained at Santa Rosa until
1905, when she left to work for the California State Library (History of the Santa Rosa
Public Library, 1903).
When and where Kumli obtained her library education is uncertain, but it is clear
from her reports and other documents that she brought a level of competence and
professionalism to the library that had previously been absent. From her first report in
June 1890, for example, she provides far more comprehensive circulation statistics,
breaking down the daily numbers by genre and providing a greater level of analysis
(Santa Rosa Public Library, 1890). Another example is her project to catalog the library
collection, which does not seem to have been systematically organized until then.
Kumli’s work was completed in 1902 and resulted in a standard dictionary catalog,
containing “over 6,000 books and . . . several thousand volumes of government reports
and documents” (“To Library Patrons”, 1902). She also prepared a clear and
comprehensive set of instructions for the catalog that were published in the newspaper.
Finally, from 1901 to 1904 she was deeply involved in the project to obtain funding for
the city’s Carnegie library.
Most important, however, is the high regard in which Kumli was eventually held
by her patrons and fellow citizens. An excellent example of this is an anonymous letter
that was placed in a time capsule in the cornerstone of the new building in 1903, praising
the “noble character” of
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. . . our able Librarian, Miss Anna Bertha Kumli, who has been a source of
inspiration to all who come to the Library. If she were to be alive at the opening
of this box, no matter what the conditions of life at that time might be, she would
be equal to them, and would at once be useful and inspiring to young and old as
she is to us here in 1903 at Santa Rosa. Much of the advancement that far off time
may know will be no doubt helped by her inspiration to the youth of our time, and
even if her name then be unknown, the power of her life and influence will not be
wasted. (Santa Rosa Public Library, 1903, Cornerstone file).
After she finished overseeing the library’s move to its new home, Kumli left to
work as a library organizer for James Gillis of the California State Library. She traveled
extensively in the Gold Country, advising and assisting communities in the details of
setting up libraries of their own (Passet, 1994). From the success she enjoyed in this
endeavor, it appears that this prediction came true for many people in rural inland
California.
Change in the Air
Kumli’s tenure was marked by a steady increase in the library’s attendance and
circulation, as well as in the variety of books that were used by patrons. For example, in
the monthly report for June 1890, Kumli reports a total of 809 books issued (June appears
to have typically been a slow month; circulation was nearly double this in the winter
months). Table 2 gives the breakdown of categories.
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Table 2 Santa Rosa Free Library Report, June 2 to June 27, 1890
Source: original report hand-written by Bertha Kumli (Santa Rosa Public Library, 1890).
Number of books issued 809 Fiction 541 Juvenile fiction 159 History 22 Travel 17 Biography 4 Essays 31 Science 16 Poetry 4 Miscellaneous 15 Percentage of fiction issued 87% Average number of books issued per day 32.4 Attendance 1882 Average attendance per day 75.3 No. of books in the Library mended 17
By 1903, however, the library’s circulation had nearly doubled. The annual report
for June 30, 1902 to July 1, 1903 reports a total of 1745 books issued in June of 1903
(again, the library’s slowest month). Table 3 gives the categories for circulation.
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Table 3 Santa Rosa Public Library circulation figures for June, 1903
Source: 1903 annual report typewritten and signed by Bertha Kumli (Santa Rosa Public Library, 1903, Annual report).
Philosophy 12 Religion 33 Sociology 17 Natural Science 62 Useful Arts 6 Fine Arts 24 Literature 118 History 137 Travel 95 Biography 66 Fiction 864 Juvenile 311 Total 1745
Fiction—adult and juvenile combined—made up 67.3% of the total circulation in
June 1903, a small drop from the figure of 87% for 1890. This suggests that the
readership was becoming more sophisticated and was making more use of the library for
education in addition to entertainment. It is also notable that the circulation
approximately doubled during this time. The population of Santa Rosa in 1890 was 5220;
I estimate the population in 1903 as 7016, based on the population of 6673 in 1900 and of
7817 in 1910 (California State Department of Finance, n.d.). Therefore, the population
increased by only 49.7% during this period.
One possible way to examine this increase in utilization of the library would be to
look at the ratio of total circulation to population. In 1890, the total number of books
issued was 809, for a population of 5220, yielding a ratio of 1 book for every 6.5 people.
For 1903, we can use the estimated 1903 population of 7016 and the total circulation for
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that year of 1745 to yield a ratio of 1 book for every 4 people. This suggests that
circulation per capita increased by approximately 61% over this period.
Therefore, it is clear that Santa Rosa citizens were increasingly taking advantage
of the facilities that the library provided; this may be due to improvements in social,
cultural, and educational opportunities that came with increased population. However, it
is also true that the library’s collection in 1903 was far more diverse than in its early
days. The 1903 annual report includes figures for the total collection, broken down by
category. This list is reproduced in Table 4.
Table 4 Santa Rosa Public Library, books by category, 1903
Source: 1903 annual report (Santa Rosa Public Library, 1903, Annual report).
General works 93 Philosophy 147 Religion 263 Sociology 373 Philology 37 Natural Science 271 Useful Arts 156 Fine Arts 141 Literature 827 History 682 Travel 432 Biography 731 Fiction 1529 Juvenile Fiction 353 Bound Periodicals 609 Government Documents 6374 Total 13016
Disregarding government documents, fiction and juvenile fiction combined
therefore made up only 28.3% of the collection by 1903, despite constituting just over
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two-thirds of circulation. As always, it is clear that fiction was still by far the most
popular genre, despite its proportion of circulation dropping significantly over the years.
The library certainly made efforts to maintain a diverse collection during this
period. A number of the library’s book orders from the 1890’s have survived, and they
show a great effort to cater to a variety of tastes. One example is the library’s year-end
order for December 2, 1891, which was placed with A.C. McClurg & Co., a major
bookseller in Chicago (Santa Rosa Public Library, 1891). The library ordered 122 books
for a total cost of $159.62. The books chosen fall into all the categories used by the
library. Table 5 is a list of some representative works, with the categories into which they
would have fit. Other orders have survived from more local booksellers such as William
Doxey of San Francisco.
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Table 5 Sample works from December 2, 1891 book order for Santa Rosa Public Library
Source: original handwritten order form from A.C. McClurg & Co., Chicago (Santa Rosa Public Library, 1891).
Category Books Fiction Stockton, Rudder Grange
Barrie, Auld Licht Idylls Sewell, Black Beauty
Juvenile fiction Miss Toosey’s Mission Laddie Ewing, The Great Emergency and 9 others
History Lane-Poole, Story of the Moors in Spain Allen, Outline of Christian History Rawlinson, The Origin of Nations Baird, History of the Huguenot Emigration to America Coffin, Marching to Victory
Religion Clarke, Ten Great Religions Alden, God in His World Hale, How to Do It
Travel Stoddard, Across Russia O’Rell, A Frenchman in America
Biography Ireland, Life of Jane Welsh Carlyle Bolton, Successful Women
Essays Lamb, 5 books
Science Milne, Earthquakes Spencer, Data of Ethics and First Principles
Poetry Poems of John Godfrey Saxe Shelley, Poetical Works Wordsworth, Poetical Works
A similar effort toward comprehensiveness and variety is shown by the various
newspaper and magazine subscriptions bought by the library at this time. Kumli had
subscribed to the San Francisco Chronicle and Evening Bulletin by at least 1891, as
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renewal orders have survived from 1892. The library also purchased subscriptions to a
wide variety of magazines; one order, placed on June 17, 1893 with San Francisco
booksellers Johnson & Emigh, lists the following (Santa Rosa Public Library, 1893):
• Harper’s Young People • Harper’s Monthly • Harper’s Weekly • Harper’s Bazaar • Century • Review of Reviews • Scribner’s • St. Nicholas • Cosmopolitan • North American Review • Popular Science Monthly • Outing • Overland Monthly • Forum • Critic • Life • Youth’s Companion • Scientific American • Art Amateur • Literary World • Atlantic Monthly
It is evident that the Santa Rosa Public Library was making a substantial effort to
grow and to cater to the increasing diversity and sophistication of its clientele. At this
point, however, the library was still operating out of its rooms on the second floor of City
Hall. Clearly, this growth could not continue indefinitely without a significant expansion
of the available space, and so in 1901 the trustees began looking at the next major step in
the library’s evolution—obtaining a building from Andrew Carnegie.
“A Credit to the City of Roses”
In November of 1901, a local businessman and property owner named Nelson
Carr surprised the library trustees with a donation of $1,000, and as the library had been
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in need of space for some time, it was proposed to use the money to purchase land for a
new library building (“A Generous Gift”, 1901), although in the end it was used to
purchase over 500 books (“A Vote of Thanks”, 1901). However, the idea lived on, and
soon the trustees began planning to request a grant from industrialist and philanthropist
Andrew Carnegie, who had been gaining fame for some years for providing hundreds of
library buildings around the country. At the city council meeting of December 3, 1901,
the mayor was authorized to ask Carnegie for $35,000 (later reduced to $20,000) to build
a new library (“For A New Library”, 1901).
Following this resolution, the plan came together quickly. In July of 1902, the
trustees accepted the deeds to two plots of land, on the west side of the downtown area,
that had been donated for the future home of the library (“Trustees Accept Deeds”,
1902); immediately after, several architects were solicited for designs. Finally, on
September 2, at the library board’s monthly meeting, a letter was received from
Carnegie’s agent, R.A. Franks:
I am in receipt of your favor of the 22nd inst., enclosing copy of resolutions
of your city council, which is entirely satisfactory. From your letter of July 26th I
note that site for the proposed library building has been acquired, which
completes the fulfillment of all conditions attached to Mr. Carnegie’s gift of
$20,000 to your city for the erection of a library building.
The funds on this account are now available, and will be awarded in
installments of $5,000 each, as needed from time to time during the course of
construction. Remittances will be forwarded from this office upon the receipt of
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requests signed by the president and treasurer of your library board, accompanied
by architects’ certificate. (“Library Trustees”, 1902)
With that, the plans proceeded apace. On September 9, the winning design, by
Sacramento architect Ernest M. Hoen (who had grown up in Santa Rosa) was chosen
from the six submitted (“Hoen Is The Architect”, 1902). The new library would be built
of gray basalt and include reading, book stack, lecture, and children’s rooms, as well as
offices, service space and two museums. The construction contract was awarded on
December 13 to William Peacock of San Francisco (“Contract Awarded”, 1902). In April
the cornerstone was laid, and the library opened in early 1904 to great acclaim. Figure 1
shows the new library as it appeared after completion.
Figure 1 Carnegie building, Santa Rosa Public Library, circa 1904
Source: Santa Rosa Then and Now, http://www.srtan.com/wLibraryPre1906.htm
“An Energetic Spirit Aroused” 23
Downfall, Rebirth, and Decline
The community’s jubilation over their new library, sadly, turned out to be short-
lived. On April 18, 1906, at 5:12 am, Northern California was struck by the most
powerful earthquake in its modern history. San Francisco, the largest city on the west
coast, was largely reduced to rubble by the quake and the resulting fires, which burned
unchecked for four days due to the disruption of the city’s water supply. While San
Francisco was quickly rebuilt, it never regained its former dominance as a financial and
cultural capital; the balance of power in California society shifted permanently to Los
Angeles.
Many other Bay Area communities suffered enormous damage, with Santa Rosa
perhaps receiving the worst blow of all; nearly all of the buildings in the city’s downtown
were leveled by the quake. The new library, while not destroyed completely, suffered a
partial collapse. Figure 2 shows the damage to the library from the quake.
“An Energetic Spirit Aroused” 24
Figure 2 Santa Rosa Public Library, after the 1906 earthquake
Source: Santa Rosa Then and Now, http://www.srtan.com/1906/w1906_05.htm
For some weeks, the library remained closed while the damage was assessed and
an estimate made of the cost to repair the building. The library trustees decided to ask
Andrew Carnegie to assist with funding, and the reply came from Carnegie’s secretary on
June 28, 1906:
Your favor received through Judge Morrow informing us that the library building
had been damaged by the earthquake and that it will take six thousand nine
hundred dollars to put it in former condition, Mr. Carnegie will be glad to pay this
sum, and has instructed his cashier, R.A. Franks, Home Trust Co., Hoboken, N.J.,
“An Energetic Spirit Aroused” 25
accordingly. Please communicate with Mr. Franks about payments. (“Carnegie
Will Repair Damages”, 1906).
With Carnegie’s assistance, the reconstruction of the building proceeded quickly;
the library collection was temporarily moved into the undamaged basement while the
upper floors were restored. The library finally reopened on November 30, 1906 (“Library
Has Been Reopened”, 1906).
After this catastrophe, the library building served the community for over fifty
years, though not without some difficulties. The library’s rapid growth continued, and
there were significant growing pains from time to time; in particular, in 1925, the steady
expansion of the children’s section required the remodeling of part of the basement into a
“Children’s Room” (Finley, 1937). Eventually, in 1958, inquiries were made into the
possibility of remodeling the building to accommodate a larger collection, but it was
decided that the design had been substandard from the beginning and would be difficult
to alter (Rapp, Christensen & Foster, 1958).
Finally, in 1960, after several years of slow deterioration, the city Building
Department, along with a structural engineer and the state fire marshal, reported that the
library was in a structurally hazardous condition. The city manager concluded that the
building was in danger of collapse and should never have been rebuilt after the 1906
earthquake, and ordered the library closed (Office of the City Manager, 1960). The
collection was shortly moved to a temporary location; in April 1964 a bond issue was
approved to raise funds for a new building, and the old Carnegie library was subsequently
demolished. Construction began on the same site in September 1965; the new building
opened in February 1967 and is still in use today.
“An Energetic Spirit Aroused” 26
Ironically, at the same time that the Carnegie building was preparing to meet its
end, the library’s institutional fate was sealed as well. In December of 1964, a plan was
approved for the consolidation of Santa Rosa and the county’s other city libraries with the
Sonoma County Library, which had been established independently in 1945. The
consolidation became final in July 1965, and on its completion the new building became
the central branch and reference center for a county library system encompassing twelve
cities throughout Sonoma County—an arrangement that persists to this day.
History in Miniature
This paper began with the thesis that a library’s history could provide a
convenient framework within which to observe the forces that drive the development of
its associated community. In the case of the Santa Rosa Public Library, it is clear that the
library movement had an early and strong presence in the new community, from the
beginnings of the town in the 1850’s. Despite the failure of at least two early attempts,
the people of Santa Rosa continued to work for the creation of their library, and made
good use of it once it was solidly established.
It is also apparent that the development of the library, from a social reading room
operating by subscription to a free public institution, followed the development of public
services in general. In the 1880’s, as city government grew more complex with the
growing size and importance of the town, it made sense for library services to be
consolidated with other services underneath the government’s umbrella (literally, in the
case of the library’s dispute with the fire department). Finally, the growing sophistication
of the library’s users, and by extension the city’s population, can also be inferred from
the ever-increasing size and diversity of the library’s collection, as well as circulation
“An Energetic Spirit Aroused” 27
figures showing that the public’s per-capita usage of the library increased substantially,
well ahead of population growth.
In all of these areas, the larger historical trends driving the development and
growing complexity of this community can be seen operating in miniature upon that most
public of city institutions—the public library.
“An Energetic Spirit Aroused” 28
Appendix A An example of a monthly report, from June 1888.
“An Energetic Spirit Aroused” 29
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