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1877
Residents of San Francisco hold a meeting at Dashaway Hall, initiated
by Andrew S. Hallidie, to advocate the funding and establishment of a
free public Library.
Best seller in 1877:
The American
by Henry James
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1878
Governor William Irwin signs the Rogers Act, instituting a property tax
to raise Library funds and creating a board of Library trustees.
Best seller in 1878:
The Leavenworth Case
by Anna Katharine Green
|
1879
First San Francisco Public Library opens on the second floor of Pacific
Hall on Bush Street (between Kearny & Dupont, now Grant Avenue).
First City Librarian, Albert Hart, is hired.
Best seller in 1879:
Progress and Poverty
by Henry George
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|
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1888
Library moves to the Larkin Street wing of City Hall, in the new
Civic Center.
Best seller in 1888:
Looking Backward
by Edward Bellamy
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1888-89
First three branches are opened, in the Mission, in North Beach,
and on Potrero Hill.
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1889
The Library is nominated for federal depository status by U.S.
Senator George Hearst and continues as a federal depository to
the present day.
Best seller in 1889:
Stories
by Guy de Maupassant
|
1892
Best seller in 1892:
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
by Arthur Conan Doyle
|
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1893
Library relocates to the third floor of City Hall's McAllister Street wing.
Best seller in 1893:
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
by Robert Louis Stevenson
|
1895
Best seller in 1895:
The Red Badge of Courage
by Stephen Crane
|
1898
Best seller in 1898:
Black Rock
by Ralph Connor
|
1901
Andrew J. Carnegie
Best seller in 1901:
Graustark
by George Barr McCutcheon
|
|
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1902
Eureka Valley Branch opened as McCreery Branch. Rebuilt as
Eureka Valley in 1962.
Ocean View Branch opened.
|
1903
San Francisco voters pass a bond issue to supplement the Carnegie bequest.
Chicago architect Daniel Burnham, leader of the City Beautiful movement,
begins to design a master plan for San Francisco, including a Civic Center
with a new Library building.
|
1906
Daniel Burnham presents his final plan for the city's redesign.
But shortly afterward the earthquake and fire destroy much of
the city including the Library collection housed in City Hall.
Of the Library's 166,344 volumes an estimated 40,000 were destroyed.
Temporary quarters were established on Hayes Street near Van Ness.
Two of the six branches were destroyed.
|
Best sellers in 1903:
FICTION
1. Lady Rose's Daughter, Mary Augusta Ward
2. Gordon Keith, Thomas Nelson Page
3. The Pit, Frank Norris
4. Lovey Mary, Alice Hegan Rice
5. The Virginian, Owen Wister
6. Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch, Alice Hegan Rice
7. The Mettle of the Pasture, James Lane Allen
8. Letters of a Self-Made Merchant to His Son, George Horace Lorimer
9. The One Woman, Thomas Dixon Jr.
10. The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come, John Fox Jr.
|
|
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1907
The Library moves to a temporary location between Van Ness & Franklin,
Fell & Hayes.
|
1908
The city begins to raise funds and consider plans for a new Civic Center.
|
1914
George Kelham
The temporary Main Library reaches capacity.
Architect George W. Kelham's design for a new Main Library -
the first building to be constructed specifically for the
Library - is chosen for a Civic Center location, the block
bound by Larkin, McAllister, Hyde, and Fulton streets.
Carnegie Foundation funds are earmarked for the building of branch
libraries in the Richmond, the Mission, the Sunset, Noe Valley,
and Golden Gate Valley.
|
Best sellers in 1906:
FICTION
1. Coniston, Winston Churchill
2. Lady Baltimore, Owen Wister
3. The Fighting Chance, Robert W. Chambers
4. The House of a Thousand Candles, Meredith Nicholson
5. Jane Cable, George Barr McCutcheon
6. The Jungle, Upton Sinclair
7. The Awakening of Helena Ritchie, Margaret Deland
8. The Spoilers, Rex Beach
9. The House of Mirth, Edith Wharton
10. The Wheel of Life, Ellen Glasgow
|
|
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1915
Ground is broken for the Main Library.
|
1916
Silver trowel by Shreves
Presented to the Board of Public Library Trustees
by the McGilvray-Raymond Granite Co.
April 15, 1916
On the occasion of laying the cornerstone
Public Library, Civic Center
by His Honor Mayor James Rolph, Jr.
Noe Valley Branch opened.
The cornerstone for the Main Library is laid - ten years
after the devastating earthquake of 1906.
|
Best sellers in 1915:
FICTION
1. The Turmoil, Booth Tarkington
2. A Far Country, Winston Churchill
3. Michael O'Halloran, Gene Stratton Porter
4. Pollyanna Grows Up, Eleanor H. Porter
5. K, Mary Roberts Rinehart
6. Jaffery, William J. Locke
7. Felix O'Day, F. Hopkinson Smith
8. The Harbor, Ernest Poole
9. The Lone Star Ranger, Zane Grey
10. Angela's Business, Henry Sydnor Harrison
|
|
|
1917
The Main Library is dedicated and opens to the public. Materials
are moved by horse and wagon to the new Beaux Arts building.
|
1918
Sunset Branch and Golden Gate Valley Branch opened.
|
1920
The Main Library begins to acquire rare books and the works of
San Francisco fine printers and binders: a collection that in
1927 is named for Max J. Kuhl and is currently housed in The
Book Arts and Special Collections Center.
Bernal Branch opened as Library deposit station. Became full
branch in 1936.
|
| Best sellers in 1917 |
|
FICTION
1. Mr. Britling Sees It Through, H. G. Wells
2. The Light in the Clearing, Irving Bacheller
3. The Red Planet, William J. Locke
|
GENERAL - NONFICTION
1. Rhymes of a Red Cross Man, Robert W. Service
2. The Plattsburg Manual, O. O. Ellis and E. B. Garey
3. Raymond, Sir Oliver Lodge
|
WAR - BOOKS
1. The First Hundred Thousand, Ian Hay
2. My Home in the Field of Honor, Frances W. Huard
3. A Student in Arms, Donald Hankey
|
|
|
|
1921
|
1925
Excelsior and Ingleside branches open.
|
1927
Glen Park and Bayview branches open.
|
1928
|
1929
Business Library (a department of the Main) opens in the Russ
Building in the Financial District.
|
Best sellers in 1929:
FICTION
1. All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
2. Dodsworth, Sinclair Lewis
3. Dark Hester, Anne Douglas Sedgwick
4. The Bishop Murder Case, S. S. Van Dine
5. Roper's Row, Warwick Deeping
NONFICTION
1. The Art of Thinking, Ernest Dimnet
2. Henry the Eighth, Francis Hackett
3. The Cradle of the Deep, Joan Lowell
4. Elizabeth and Essex, Lytton Strachey
5. The Specialist, Chic Sale
|
|
|
1932
Gottardo Piazzoni Painting A Mural
Piazzoni Murals begin to be installed in the Main Library's Rotunda.
Anza Branch opened.
|
1934
Visitacion Valley Branch opened.
|
1936
Parkside and West Portal branches opened.
|
Best sellers in 1936:
FICTION
1. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
2. The Last Puritan, George Santayana
3. Sparkenbroke, Charles Morgan
4. Drums Along the Mohawk, Walter D. Edmonds
5. It Can't Happen Here, Sinclair Lewis
NONFICTION
1. Man the Unknown, Alexis Carrel
2. Wake Up and Live!, Dorothea Brande
3. The Way of a Transgressor, Negley Farson
4. Around the World in Eleven Years, Patience, Richard, and Johnny Abbe
5. North to the Orient, Anne Morrow Lindbergh
|
|
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1943
Main Library declared filled to capacity.
|
1947
Nat Schmulowitz
Nat Schmulowitz, a local lawyer and former Library
Commissioner, donates his collection of humor books and
magazines to the Main Library, forming the core of the
Schmulowitz Collection of Wit & Humor (SCOWAH)
located in The Book Arts and Special Collections Center.
|
1948
Voters turn down bond issue to fund eighteen branches and
an addition to the Main Library.
|
1949
Citizens concerned about the future of the Library meet to
form the first Friends of the San Francisco Library.
|
Best sellers in 1943:
FICTION
1. The Robe, Lloyd C. Douglas
2. The Valley of Decision, Marcia Davenport
3. So Little Time, John P. Marquand
4. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith
5. The Human Comedy, William Saroyan
NONFICTION
1. Under Cover, John Roy Carlson
2. One World, Wendell L. Willkie
3. Journey Among Warriors, Eve Curie
4. On Being a Real Person, Harry Emerson Fosdick
5. Guadalcanal Diary, Richard Tregaskis
|
|
|
1952
Series of articles in the San Francisco Chronicle criticizes
the Library.
|
1954
|
1956
|
Best sellers in 1952:
FICTION
1. The Silver Chalice, Thomas B. Costain
2. The Caine Mutiny, Herman Wouk
3. East of Eden, John Steinbeck
4. My Cousin Rachel, Daphne du Maurier
5. Steamboat Gothic, Frances Parkinson Keyes
NONFICTION
1. The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version
2. A Man Called Peter, Catherine Marshall
3. U.S.A. Confidential, Jack Lait and Lee Mortimer
4. The Sea Around Us, Rachel L. Carson
5. Tallulah, Tallulah Bankhead
|
|
|
1957
Hale Champion's series in the San Francisco Chronicle
negatively critiques the Library's operation and services.
|
1958
Emerson Greenaway, an eminent librarian, delivers a report
recommending additional city funding, improvements to the Main
Library, and hiring of trained staff.
Merced Branch opened.
|
Best sellers in 1958:
FICTION
1. Doctor Zhivago, Boris Pasternak
2. Anatomy of a Murder, Robert Traver
3. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
4. Around the World with Auntie Mame, Patrick Dennis
5. From the Terrace, John O'Hara
NONFICTION
1. Kids Say the Darndest Things!, Art Linkletter
2. 'Twixt Twelve and Twenty, Pat Boone
3. Only in America, Harry Golden
4. Masters of Deceit, Edgar Hoover
5. Please Don't Eat the Daisies, Jean Kerr
|
|
|
1959
Mayoral memorandum announcing the formation of the Mayor's Committee of Fifty
Mayor George Christopher creates the Committee of Fifty, a
group of prominent cultural and business leaders, to build
support for the Library.
North Beach Branch opened in current location.
|
Best sellers in 1959:
FICTION
1. Exodus, Leon Uris
2. Doctor Zhivago, Boris Pasternak
3. Hawaii, James Michener
4. Advise and Consent, Allen Drury
5. Lady Chatterley's Lover, D. H. Lawrence
NONFICTION
1. 'Twixt Twelve and Twenty, Pat Boone
2. Folk Medicine, D. C. Jarvis
3. For 2¢ Plain, Harry Golden
4. The Status Seekers, Vance Packard
5. Act One, Moss Hart
|
|
|
1960
San Franciscans for a Better Library, a citizen's group, is formed.
|
1961
The Committee of Fifty, San Franciscans for a Better Library, and
the San Francisco Library League join forces under a new name -
Friends of the San Francisco Public Library.
Early Friends of the Library logo
|
Best sellers in 1961:
FICTION
1. The Agony and the Ecstasy, Irving Stone
2. Franny and Zooey, J. D. Salinger
3. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
4. Mila 18, Leon Uris
5. The Carpetbaggers, Harold Robbins
NONFICTION
1. The New English Bible: The New Testament
2. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, William Shirer
3. Better Homes and Gardens Sewing Book
4. Casserole Cook Book
5. A Nation of Sheep, William Lederer
|
|
|
1963
Judy Detrick
Richard Harrison, local calligrapher and collector of calligraphy,
gives his collection to the Library, currently located in The Book
Arts and Special Collections Center.
Effie Lee Morris was appointed the first Coordinator of Children’s
Services.
|
1964
The Main Library establishes a collection of materials on local
history, later named the San Francisco History Room, now called
The San Francisco History Center.
The Friends holds its first annual book sale, raising $4,000 to
purchase rare materials for the Library.
|
Best sellers in 1964:
FICTION
1. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, John Le Carré
2. Candy, Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg
3. Herzog, Saul Bellow
4. Armageddon, Leon Uris
5. The Man, Irving Wallace
NONFICTION
1. Four Days, American Heritage and United Press International
2. I Need All the Friends I Can Get, Charles M. Schulz
3. Profiles in Courage: Memorial Edition, John F. Kennedy
4. In His Own Write, John Lennon
|
|
|
1965
Robert Grabhorn's collection of 1,500 rare books becomes
part of the Main Library's Special Collections, located in
The Book Arts and Special Collections Center.
Woodcut image from the Hypnerotomachia Poliphhili, printed by
Aldus Manutius, Venice, 1499
|
1966
Western Addition Branch opened.
|
Best sellers in 1966:
FICTION
1. Valley of the Dolls, Jacqueline Susann
2. The Adventurers, Harold Robbins
3. The Secret of Santa Vittoria, Robert Crichton
4. Capable of Honor, Allen Drury
5. The Double Image, Helen MacInnes
NONFICTION
1. How to Avoid Probate, Norman F. Dacey
2. Human Sexual Response, William Howard Masters and Virginia E. Johnston
3. In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
4. Games People Play, Eric Berne, M.D.
5. A Thousand Days, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.
|
|
|
1967
Bay Area Reference Center (BARC) funded. Main Library designated
"third-level" research center for Northern California.
|
1969
San Francisco librarians form the Librarians' Guild, which soon
replaces the Library Staff Association.
|
1970
City employees picketing in front of City Hall
The Librarians' Guild supports the four day city wide strike of public employees.
|
Best sellers in 1969:
FICTION
1. Portnoy's Complaint, Philip Roth
2. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
3. The Love Machine, Jacqueline Susann
4. The Inheritors, Harold Robbins
5. The Andromeda Strain, Michael Crichton
NONFICTION
1. American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, William Morris, editor
2. In Someone's Shadow, Rod McKuen
3. The Peter Principle, Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull
4. Between Parent and Teenager, Dr. Haim G. Ginott
|
|
|
1972
The Library begins walk-in service for the blind and visually
impaired, now called The Library for the Blind and Print Disabled.
Keep Libraries Alive! forms to protest the closing of branches
to meet cuts in the city's budget for the Library system.
|
1973
Dial-A-Story begins. This service, aimed at preschool-age children
but used by many, offers stories in English via telephone.
|
1974
The Library Commission, the Friends of the San Francisco Public
Library, Keep Libraries Alive!, and other citizen groups fight
successfully to retain Marshall Square as the site of a new main
Library.
California Video Resources Project begins producing & collecting videotapes.
|
Best sellers in 1974:
FICTION
1. Centennial, James A. Michener
2. Watership Down, Richard Adams
3. Jaws, Peter Benchley
4. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, John Le Carré
5. Something Happened, Joseph Heller
NONFICTION
1. The Total Woman, Marabel Morgan
2. All the President's Men, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward
3. Plain Speaking: An Oral Biography of Harry S. Truman, Merle Miller
4. More Joy: A Lovemaking Companion to The Joy of Sex, Alex Comfort
|
|
|
1978
The passage of Proposition 13, rolling back property taxes,
negatively impacts the city's ability to fund the Library
and other public institutions.
Library begins sign language and video services for the Deaf,
now called Deaf Services Center.
|
1980
January: CLSI, the Library’s first automation system, goes online at the Main.
Special Media Services (circulating video collection,
media production, and services to Deaf) started in the
Communications Center (Presidio Branch). In 1982 moves
into the Main Library. (Audio Visual Center and Assistive
Technology)
|
1982
Report by Lowell Martin recommending consolidation of
branches catalyzes public support for the branches.
|
1983
Project Read, the Library’s literacy program, begins.
|
Best sellers in 1980:
FICTION
1. The Covenant, James A. Michener
2. The Bourne Identity, Robert Ludlum
3. Rage of Angels, Sidney Sheldon
4. Princess Daisy, Judith Krantz
5. Firestarter, Stephen King
NONFICTION
1. Crisis Investing: Opportunities and Profits in the Coming Great Depression, Douglas R. Casey
2. Cosmos, Carl Sagan
3. Free to Choose: A Personal Statement, Milton and Rose Friedman
4. Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient, Norman Cousins
|
|
|
1985
Book Buddies was established. Children’s librarians train
volunteers to read to children in San Francisco hospitals.
As a component of that program, Dial-A-Story lines in
Cantonese and Spanish were started.
|
1986
A task force is created by Mayor Feinstein to complete the
design of the Civic Center, including use of Marshall Square
for a new Library.
|
1987
Business Library closed due to budget cuts.
|
1989
Damage caused by the Loma Prieta Earthquake
Loma Prieta Earthquake severely damages the Main Library
building and the stacks are permanently closed to the public.
This is the last year that the card catalog is maintained. All
cataloguing is now entered into the online database.
|
Best sellers in 1986:
FICTION
1. It, Stephen King
2. Red Storm Rising, Tom Clancy
3. Whirlwind, James Clavell
4. The Bourne Supremacy, Robert Ludlum
5. Hollywood Husbands, Jackie Collins
NONFICTION
1. Fatherhood, Bill Cosby
2. Fit for Life, Harvey and Marilyn Diamond
3. His Way: The Unauthorized Biography of Frank Sinatra, Kitty Kelley
4. The Rotation Diet, Martin Katahn
5. You're Only Old Once, Dr. Seuss
|
|
|
1990
Dorothy Starr
Sheet music collector Dorothy Starr dies, leaving
a collection of 500,000 pieces of published music. The
Friends purchase the collection from her estate for
the Library.
|
1992
Lesbian/Gay Center collection begins, now called the James C.
Hormel Gay and Lesbian Center.
Loan of audio Compact Discs Begins.
Ground is broken for the New Main Library on Marshall Square.
Hundreds attend the ceremony, including Mayor Frank Jordan. He
uses the same silver shovel Mayor “Sunny Jim” Rolph held when
ground was broken for City Hall.
The Library excavation uncovers part of the old jail and other
rubble from City Hall when it collapsed in the 1906 earthquake.
Also found is a wedding band, one of the last remains of the
Yerba Buena Cemetery that once held more than 5,000 bodies and
was removed in 1870.
|
Best sellers in 1990:
FICTION
1. The Plains of Passage, Jean M. Auel
2. Four Past Midnight, Stephen King
3. The Burden of Proof, Scott Turow
4. Memories of Midnight, Sidney Sheldon
5. Message from Nam, Danielle Steel
NONFICTION
1. A Life on the Road, Charles Kuralt
2. The Civil War, Geoffrey C. Ward with Ric Burns and Ken Burns
3. The Frugal Gourmet on Our Immigrant Heritage: Recipes You Should Have Gotten from Your Grandmother, Jeff Smith
|
|
|
1993
Municipal Cable TV Station (CITYWATCH, Channel 54)
begins, now called Channel 26, SFGTV. SF Community Television
Corp. moves into Main Library.
Automated router (Telephone System) installed, last
rotary phone removed from branches.
|
1994
The Library establishes Internet access and an early Web site.
Telephone Information Project (TIP) starts.
Community (Automated) Information Projects begin:
S.F. African-American History Network, AIDS Information Network,
Community Information Project. (San Francisco Community Services
Directory.)
Dial-up to SF Catalog begins.
The Children’s Bookmobile begins providing collections and services
for children in daycare.
|
Best sellers in 1993:
FICTION
1. The Bridges of Madison County, Robert James Waller
2. The Client, John Grisham
3. Slow Waltz at Cedar Bend, Robert James Waller
4. Without Remorse, Tom Clancy
5. Nightmares and Dreamscapes, Stephen King
NONFICTION
1. See, I Told You So, Rush Limbaugh
2. Private Parts, Howard Stern
3. Seinlanguage, Jerry Seinfeld
4. Embraced by the Light, Betty J. Eadie with Curtis Taylor
5. Ageless Body, Timeless Mind, Deepak Chopra
|
|
|
1996
New Main Library
New Main Library opened on April 18.
Focus Collections: The new Library houses many focus
collections: African American, Gay and Lesbian, International,
Chinese, Filipino, Environmental, Teen, and Jobs & Careers.
The first Teen Services Librarian position was created.
|
1997
E-mail reference service is available augmenting answers to
questions in person, by telephone, fax, and in writing.
|
1999
Over 25,000 historic photographs are digitized and made
accessible on the Library's Web site. (Historic Photo
Collection)
|
Best sellers in 1996:
FICTION
1. The Runaway Jury, John Grisham
2. Executive Orders, Tom Clancy
3. Desperation, Stephen King
4. Airframe, Michael Crichton
5. The Regulators, Richard Bachman
NONFICTION
1. Make the Connection, Oprah Winfrey and Bob Greene
2. Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus, John Gray
3. The Dilbert Principle, Scott Adams
4. Simple Abundance, Sarah Ban Breathnach
5. The Zone, Barry Sears with Bill Lawren
|
|
|
2000
Main Library Post Occupancy Evaluation Report (POE)
Voters approve of Prop A, a $106 million bond measure,
for improvements to nineteen neighborhood branches and the
construction of four new branch buildings.
|
2001
Book Amnesty cartoon by Phil Frank
Overdue Book Amnesty, June 1 - June 15.
E-Books and QandA Cafe introduced to the Library.
|
Best sellers in 2000:
FICTION
1. The Brethren, John Grisham
2. The Mark: The Beast Rules the World, Jerry B. Jenkins and Tim LaHaye
3. The Bear and the Dragon, Tom Clancy
4. The Indwelling: The Beast Takes Possession, Jerry B. Jenkins and Tim LaHaye
5. The Last Precinct, Patricia Cornwell
NONFICTION
1. Who Moved My Cheese?, Spencer Johnson
2. Guinness World Records 2001, Guinness World Books Staff
3. Body for Life, Bill Phillips
4. Tuesdays with Morrie, Mitch Albom
5. The Beatles Anthology, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr
|
|
|
2004
San Francisco Public Library turns 125!
|
Future
Mission Bay Branch scheduled to open in 2006.
|
Best sellers in 2004:
FICTION
1. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown
2. The Confessions of Max Tivoli, Andrew Sean Greer
3. The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri
4. The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Mitch Albom
NONFICTION
1. Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, Al Franken
2. South Beach Diet, Arthur Agatston
3. Eats, Shoots and Leaves, Lynne Truss
4. The Price of Loyalty, Ron Suskind
5. The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, Mark Bittner
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