An Invitation for Public Comment
The San Francisco Public Library Commission is developing a series of plaques in the Larkin Street entrance of the New Main Library to commemorate the history of the institution and recognize the many individuals and organizations that have shaped it since 1877.
The project is in two sections. The first, Keepers of the Dream, is a philosophical statement about the role of the public library in San Francisco and mentions a few of the heroes who stepped forward from the community to champion its cause. This plaque has already been approved by the Library Commission after public review and is installed at the Larkin Street entrance. It is the first plaque in a series.
The second section is the Wall of Library Heroes and gives a more detailed look at SFPL history year by year. The focus is on institutional milestones, individual community leaders and the stories of what they did. While a few staff members are mentioned, the emphasis is on people from the community, unpaid volunteers who stepped forward to lead. We recognize that staff is critical to the function of any organization and there have been many heroes. There are existing programs to honor their work and other programs may be developed in the future.
The historical emphasis, as suggested in Keepers of the Dream, is activity since the mid-1900s. It is this section that is now open for public comment. It is expected that this section will cover six plaques, each three feet by three feet square. Our hope is that future generations will continue to tell the story of the Library on these walls, adding additional plaques to inform and inspire. All information will also be available via the Library web site. In this document we include both Keepers of the Dream and the Wall of Library Heroes so you can see them in context.
The history section is based heavily on the 1995 book A Free Library in this City by Peter Booth Wiley. Additional material was provided by various organizations and individuals involved with the Library system.
We understand that history is complicated to tell, change is difficult and everyone has strong opinions, particularly in this city. We have tried to give some context and have included criticism as well as praise. We also see this as a wall of heroes so the emphasis is on good works.
We are asking if we have missed any important stories, individuals or milestones or if we have made any mistakes in content, accuracy, spelling or other items.
Contact Library Commission Secretary Mike Housh, San Francisco Public Library, Civic Center, 100 Larkin Street, San Francisco CA 94102. You can also email mhoush@sfpl.org or bring suggestions to any of three Commission hearings scheduled on this issue.
Library Commission
September 18, 2003
(This page only--- approved in April 2003 by the SFPL Commission after two public hearings)
Our free public library is a cultural institution unlike any other.
Inside is the history of the world, our greatest literature, ideas to strengthen our democracy, insights into science and business. It is a house of books and an electronic discovery center. You can travel to the stars or inside an atom, sail on a pirate ship or take any journey of the imagination. It is a magical place for children, a workroom for writers, a treasure chest for scholars. It is an educational and cultural resource. It reflects and respects our social diversity. It is a champion of intellectual freedom. It is this and more.
Yet the library is fragile, depending on elected officials who care, the good will of voters, the talent of its staff and citizens who understand its purpose and champion its cause.
The San Francisco Public Library struggled from the beginning, its history a mixture of inspired leadership and long periods of civic disinterest.
In the late 1950s, after years of decline, the San Francisco Public Library found its modern day angels. Imbued with civic spirit, a group of citizens demanded change. A great city, they argued, needed a great public library system. They dreamed big and worked tirelessly to create something tangible and important for future generations.
Their struggle lasted 40 years. Charming or feisty, depending on the situation, often audacious, sometimes controversial, they made all the difference.
Many shared the dream and worked to achieve it. We honor them and thank the people of San Francisco for their faith and support. We also offer special recognition to three for extraordinary leadership, vision, and tenacity, inspiring others to join the cause. This trio led the effort through the decades, never losing hope, never accepting defeat, never forgetting the dream: Marjorie G. Stern, Mary Louise Stong, Margaret ‘Mig’ Mayer
This building is hereby dedicated to their civic spirit, their selfless leadership, their devotion to the ideals of a public library, and to the passion that made them keepers of the dream.
We are grateful.
Willie L. Brown, Jr., Mayor
Charles A. Higueras, President Fran A. Streets
Carol Steiman, Vice President Deborah Strobin
Helen Marte Bautista Commissioners
Lonnie K. Chin
Susan Hildreth, City Librarian
April 4, 2003
Wall of Library Heroes
In creating this Wall of Library Heroes, the Library Commission seeks to capture many of the stories that shaped this cultural icon and the names of individuals who stepped forward offering leadership, perseverance and hope. We have selected items, big and small, positive and negative, which we believe reflect the dynamic, complex nature and history of the Library system and the city it serves.
Our focus is on unpaid citizen volunteers and champions. There have also been many heroes on staff and their fine work is honored in other programs. We recognize that telling history can be a perilous task. We acknowledge that not every detail or every individual who did important work is listed here. Future generations may inscribe on these walls other stories and the names of new heroes, Keepers of the Dream, who keep alive the promise of a “free public library in this city.”
San Francisco was a literate place by boomtown standards.
Although wild and often lawless following the discovery of
gold in1848, some observers said the City had more
newspapers in more languages than London and more college
graduates than any other city in the country. While some claimed
the City put Gomorrah to shame, others pointed out that it had
a large number of bookstores, attracted writers such as
Ambrose Bierce, Mark Twain and Bret Harte and boasted major
book publishers and collectors such as Hubert Howe Bancroft.
In 1852 you could visit several private libraries, including one
in the What Cheer House, a temperance hotel. The Mercantile Association formed the city’s first subscription library in 1853; dues
were $1 a month. Also in 1853 there are reports of a group of
black merchants opening the Athenaeum Library Company. The Mechanics’ Institute library opened in 1854 and still exists.
The late 1870s were troubled times for San Francisco. There was widespread unemployment, labor unrest, anti-Chinese agitation and resentment toward civic corruption and the wealthy, powerful men who dominated politics. Into this atmosphere the San Francisco Public
Library was born.
1877
Residents of San Francisco hold a meeting at Dashaway Hall on Post Street to create a funding mechanism for a free public library. The project is initiated by cable car inventor Andrew Hallidie and State Senator George H. Rogers. Hallidie is a former President of the Mechanics’ Institute and frustrated in his attempts to turn that library into a privately endowed public institution. He hopes a free public library can draw some restless young men from the bars and fleshpots of the city’s more notorious neighborhoods. A resolution passed by the group states:
“Whereas, We, the citizens of San Francisco, here assembled,
believe that the dissemination of education among people
is the only safeguard to republican liberty and government, and
believing the establishment of public libraries to be the
best and cheapest means of educating the people, therefore;
Resolved, That we do most heartily approve of the project about
to be inaugurated for the establishment of a free library in this city
and do pledge to the same our hearty and united support.”
1878
Governor William Irwin signs into law the Rogers Act, allowing any city to levy a property tax to raise Library funds and create a Board of Library Trustees to oversee it. In order to keep the Library free from the general corruption of City politics, the Board of Trustees is self-perpetuating rather than being appointed by the mayor.
1879
The first City Librarian, Albert Hart, is hired.
The first Board of Trustees includes Andrew Hallidie and ten other mostly
self-made men including a carpenter, a social activist, a couple of lawyers and six businessmen.
The Board of Supervisors votes to support the Library but fails to allocate sufficient funds. The Board also is unwilling to provide space in any publicly owned building.
On its own, the Library opens on gifts and credit, renting space in the theatre district on Bush Street. It is an immediate success with the public. Women have their own section.
1880
Librarian Hart resigns due to stress over the lack of funds. He is replaced by Charles Robinson who quits after seven months claiming that he is overworked.
Supervisors hold up allocation of funds in a struggle over patronage jobs. A judge orders the funds released.
The next City Librarian, Frederic Beecher Perkins, is a cousin of Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Perkins provides Library pages with slippers so they will not make noise going up ladders to retrieve books. He also removes “dirty books” from the collection and warns “a library is not…a haunt for loafers and criminals.”
The annual library budget is now $48,000.
1885
Supervisors reduce Library revenues to $18,000 a year, eliminating the book budget. Librarian Perkins declares that opponents are out to destroy the Library if they cannot control it.
1887
Perkins, tired of the budget fights, resigns amidst a public squabble over ejecting an unruly youth from the Library. Poet John Vance Cheney is named as his replacement. Cheney is working as a cashier in the Post Office when offered the job as Chief Librarian.
1888
The Main Library moves to the Larkin Street wing of the new City Hall, on a site later known as Marshall Square and the eventual site of the current new Main Library.
The Public Library opens its first three branches in the Mission, North Beach and Potrero districts.
1892
Richmond Branch opens near Golden Gate Park.
1893
The Main Library relocates within City Hall to the third floor of the McAllister Street wing.
1894
The Library annual report notes that the 38 employees of the Library make about $48.95 per month, less than other city workers.
1895
Travel books and other literature are provided on special women’s tables to help “take from them the desire for trashy literature.”
George T. Clark is appointed City Librarian and begins expanding the collection. Circulation doubles in five years.
1896
James Duval Phelan, wealthy son of one of the original 49ers, is elected Mayor with a goal of reforming city politics and introducing European style urban planning. He supports construction of a separate Main Library, a goal of the Library Trustees. He will become a major supporter and patron of the Library.
.
To help protect the Library from patronage politics, examinations are required for Library jobs.
1898
A new City Charter increases the tax assessment for the Library Fund, setting a minimum appropriation of $75,000. But it will take five years for the Library to actually receive that amount.
Presidio Branch opens on Fillmore Street.
Ten thousand books, about one tenth of the collection, are placed in open stacks.
1901
Mayor Phelan donates $16,000 to build a branch South of Market. It includes a library for the blind. He also gives money for libraries in the city’s almshouses and to two high schools.
Phelan announces plans to build a new Main Library and several new branches and convinces the Andrew Carnegie Foundation to pledge $750,000.
The San Francisco Labor Council opposes the Carnegie donation arguing that the philanthropist was anti-labor and the offer was a “presumptuous claim of a wealthy nonresident to dictate our municipal policy in the assumed name of philanthropy.” Supervisors disagree and vote to accept the offer although it will take years until the City is ready to use it for a new Main Library.
1902
Businessman Andrew J. McCreery donates $45,000 for a branch in Eureka Valley.
1903
Voters approve a bond issue for a new Main Library, but bond problems and a fight over location doom the effort. The Carnegie offer remains in limbo.
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
Burnham presents his final plan for the city’s redesign.
A major earthquake destroys City Hall in seconds and a fire destroys the book collection at the Main Library. Said an eyewitness inspecting the damage: “There was only a thin white ash where a hundred and sixty thousand books had been.” The Phelan (South of Market) and North Beach branches are destroyed, the McCreery (Eureka Valley) Branch is severely damaged and most Library employees are left homeless.
Fifteen thousand items are out on loan at the time; 1,500 eventually come back, the last, a group of periodicals from the 1850s, in 1996.
1907
A temporary Main Library is built at Hayes and Franklin streets.
George Clarke resigns as City Librarian and is replaced by William R. Watson, the first person trained as a professional librarian to head the system.
1909
A new Park Branch opens near the Panhandle.
The City begins to raise funds and consider plans for a new Civic Center.
1910
Supervisors put a charter amendment on the ballot to change the Library Board of Trustees from a self-perpetuating to an elected board. Voters turn it down. Angry, the Board of Supervisors cuts the Library budget.
1911
Music teacher Julius Rehn Weber arranges for the purchase of the 10,000-item music library from the Schirmer Music Library in Boston. Over the next decade he helps the Library develop the collection to become one of the best in the country.
1912
A ballot measure approves bond money for a new City Hall and Civic Center.
The Library asks the Carnegie Foundation to fulfill its 1901 funding pledge. Former Mayor and Library Trustee Edward Taylor opposes use of the Carnegie money and is backed by the Labor Council. Library Trustees and Supervisors vote overwhelmingly to accept the funds. Opponents put the question on the ballot but voters approve the Carnegie funds.
Robert Rea becomes City Librarian where he has worked since he was 13 years old.
1914
The temporary Main Library reaches capacity.
A contest is held for the design of the new Main Library. Architect George W. Kelham, who designed the Palace Hotel and is chief architect for the Panama-Pacific Exposition, is selected. It will be built in a formal Beaux Arts style.
Another architect who did not win the contest sues, charging that the design is similar to the design of the Detroit Public Library. But the case is dismissed.
The San Francisco Chronicle laments, “ There has been little new in architecture in the last hundred years—that is, monumental architecture.”
Carnegie Foundation funds are earmarked for the construction of five permanent branch buildings.
The new Richmond Branch opens with funds from Carnegie.
1915
Ground is broken for the new Main Library. Mayor James “Sunny Jim” Rolph and other officials take part in the ceremony.
1916
The cornerstone for the Main Library is laid, ten years after the devastating earthquake of 1906. A silver trowel commemorating the event goes into the
San Francisco Library’s history collection.
Noe Valley Branch opens through funds from the Carnegie Foundation.
1917
By horse and wagon, books are moved into the new Main Library.
The Main Library opens on February 15, 1917. Five hundred people take part in the ceremony. The building cost is $1.153 million. Library Trustee and Board of Education President Joseph O’Connor refers to the building as “this magnificent chaste temple of learning.”
1918
Sunset and Golden Gate Valley branches open with funds from the Carnegie Foundation.
1920
At the instigation of Library Trustee William Young, the Main Library begins to acquire rare books. The Library also starts collecting works from San Francisco’s fine printers and binders who are gaining international stature.
1921
Carnegie Foundation funds build two new buildings: North Beach Branch on Powell Street and Presidio Branch on Sacramento Street
A new Eureka Valley Branch opens, replacing the McCreery Branch that was damaged in the 1906 earthquake.
The Library budget is $185,000 a year. Librarians are paid $85 to $95 a month, less than other City employees.
1925
Excelsior and Ingleside branches open.
1926
A report by the San Francisco Center indicates that Library children’s services are under-funded and that the Library was “the one large public library in the country which does not appreciate the value of assistants who are graduates of library schools.”
1927
Glen Park and Bayview branches open.
The Library names the rare book and fine printing collection as a memorial to Max J. Kuhl, a rare book collector and the attorney for the Panama-Pacific Exhibition of 1915. Several rare book enthusiasts help build the collection including Albert Bender who donates a Kelmscott Chaucer, a Dove’s Press Bible and pages from the first and second folio Ashendene Spenser.
1928
Portola and Ocean View branches open.
Library Trustees President James Phelan commissions an outside study of the Library. The report states that the collection is excellent considering its near destruction in the 1906 earthquake and fire, but the Library is under-funded, and staff is largely untrained and seriously underpaid. Igniting a controversy, the study suggests replacing City Librarian Robert Rea with someone trained in library science. The League of Women Voters does its own survey and defends Rea. He retires in 1945.
1929
The Business Branch opens in the financial district.
With the Great Depression, Library funding declines but the number of people using the Library skyrockets.
1931
The Police Department is allowed to use the basement of the Main Library for target practice.
A new City Charter turns the Library Board of Trustees into a Commission appointed by the Mayor.
1932
Anza Branch opens.
1933
As poor economic times continue, Mayor Angelo Rossi appoints a Citizens Advisory Committee that recommends major cuts in the Library budget. The book budget is cut significantly.
1935
Visitacion Valley Branch opens.
Mayor Rossi seeks federal help to build new branches on permanent city-owned sites. The City receives $90,000.
1936
Parkside, West Portal and Bernal branches open, all in rental sites.
1939
West Portal Branch opens.
1940
Library staff, almost entirely women, campaigns successfully for civil service protection.
A new Bernal Branch opens in a city owned site.
Mayor Rossi and the Library Commission approve an ambitious plan to expand branches and establish a branch in every public school but it is never implemented.
Local businessman Alfred Furhman dies and bequeaths a portion of his estate to the Library for the purchase of books on economics and political subjects. The gift provides thousands of books and other materials through the present.
1943
The Main Library reaches capacity.
The City seeks federal Works Progress Administration funds to build an addition to the Main Library but is unsuccessful.
Library card holding and circulation began a slow decline that will continue for several years.
Mayor Roger Lapham seeks federal funds for construction of ten branches but is turned down.
1944
Mayor Lapham, before he appoints trial lawyer Nat Schmulowitz to the Library Commission, asks for his assessment on what to do with the Library. Schmulowitz gives a negative report borrowing metaphors from Jonathan Swift: there is a group on the Commission that treats books as sarcophagi for knowledge, the Library as a cemetery, the Librarian as the undertaker and the Commission and staff as honorary and active pallbearers.
After his appointment to the Commission, Schmulowitz is elected President. He recommends an outside study of the Library and community leaders suggest the Library improve and expand services.
1945
Robert Rea resigns as City Librarian after 56 years with the Library. Commission Secretary Laurence J. Clarke is appointed to succeed him, the second professional librarian to hold the post. He begins to make plans for a bond issue for an addition to the Main and hopes to expand other services.
1947
On April Fools Day, Schmulowitz donates his collection on Wit and Humor to the Library and gives an endowment. The collection eventually grows to become one of the largest of its kind in the world and is named in his honor.
The Library faces serious budget problems. The federal government threatens to stop providing government documents free of charge after it discovers the Library is not making them available to the public.
1948
A bond issue for 18 new branches and an addition to the Main Library, championed by City Librarian Clarke, fails by 12,000 votes. It will be 40 years before there is another vote.
The Library Commission writes to the Board of Supervisors, “The history of the library clearly shows the lack of interest by the City Administration in the building up of library service.” The report is ignored.
1949
Citizens concerned about the future of the Library meet to form the first, short-lived Friends of the San Francisco Public Library. Nat Schmulowitz presides; Dr. Charles Albert Schumate is elected President. Mary Louise Stong is one of the participants.
1951
The new Parkside and Potrero branches open replacing rented facilities.
1953
Voters turn down a limited bond issue to reorganize the Main Library and make it more efficient.
1954
Marina Branch opens.
1956
Ortega Branch opens.
1957
Anna Waden, a health department employee of modest means, leaves money in her will to construct a new branch in Bayview/Hunters Point.
The Chronicle runs a series of critical articles on the Library by reporter Hale Champion. One headline asks, “Where are the books?” while another article states “Public Library a Disgrace to San Francisco.”
Eureka Valley Branch is damaged in an earthquake.
1958
The Library Commission retains Emerson Greenaway, President of the American Library Association, to survey San Francisco’s Library and make recommendations. His report urges additional city funding, improvements to the Main Library and the hiring of trained staff. Long term, he says, a new building is needed.
Merced Branch opens.
1959
Mayor George Christopher appoints a ‘Committee of 50’ prominent citizens to examine the decline of the Library system, particularly the Main Library.
Marjorie Stern is one of the members.
A grand jury report says the Main Library is gloomy, soiled and odoriferous, a kind of skid row hostel for the homeless, a building that is out of date. Only 1500 books were checked out in 1959 vs. 12,000 a year previously.
The new North Beach Branch opens. The old North Beach Branch, a Carnegie building on Powell Street, is renamed Chinatown Branch.
1960
San Franciscans for a Better Library, a citizens group, is formed.
William R. Holman, a librarian from San Antonio, is hired to head the San Francisco Library system. He says “San Francisco is a bookish, unique city and it certainly does not deserve a third-rate library.” He estimates that thousands of book catalog cards are missing and tens of thousands of books have yet to be cataloged.
1961
Prominent residents meet to form another Library support group, the
San Francisco Library League.
The Committee of 50, 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.
(For leadership, see Box 1, Friends of the San Francisco Public Library).
City Librarian William Holman makes a master’s degree in library science a requirement for new librarians.
1962
A new Eureka Valley Branch opens.
1963
Calligrapher Richard Harrison donates his collection to the Library.
1964
The Friends organization holds its first annual book sale of material donated to the Library. It is chaired by Hilde Kolb and raises $4,000 to purchase rare materials for the Library. Over the years, this sale becomes the biggest in the western United States and raises hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Library. (For leadership, see Box 1, Friends Book Sale).
The Main Library establishes a collection of material on local history.
1965
The Friends lobby the City for more funds and the book budget gets a significant increase.
The Library receives the private collection of Robert Grabhorn on the History of Printing and the Development of the Book, half of it a gift from the Friends.
1966
Western Addition Branch opens.
Margaret ‘Mig’ Mayer becomes the first Executive Director of the Friends of the Library. She will work behind the scenes for twenty-five years supporting improved library services.
The State Librarian designates San Francisco Public Library as the hub of the Bay Area Reference Center (BARC), one of three regional reference groups.
1967
William R. Holman resigns as City Librarian saying he is proud of the Rare Books and Special Collections Department he helped create but tired of internal conflicts. The Examiner says he inherited “one of the most infamous cultural fossils in the country” and moved it in the direction of becoming a modern library.
1968
Tucson librarian John Anderson is hired to head the San Francisco system. Anderson describes the Main Library as “the worst metropolitan library in the country.”
Marjorie Stern is appointed to the Library Commission where she will serve until 1989.
A new Excelsior Branch is dedicated.
1969
San Francisco librarians organize a union, the Librarians Guild, which later becomes an affiliate of SEIU, Local 790. A separate existing organization,
the Staff Association, continues through the early 1990s.
The new Anna E. Waden Branch opens in Bayview, named after its benefactor.
1970
Librarians join other city workers in a four-day strike protesting a proposal to restrict wage increases for city employees.
1971
The Friends donate the first bookmobile to serve older adults.
1972
Mayor Joseph Alioto faces a major budget deficit and announces closure of Ocean View, Portola and Golden Gate branches to save money. He later drops his plans.
Friends members form a new organization to lobby the state and city for more funding---Keep Libraries Alive! Leaders include Sally Brunn, Grace Macduff Parker, Billie Pearl-Schuler, Mary Louise Stong and Marjorie Stern.
1973
City Librarian Anderson resigns, saying he was given responsibility to run the institution but not the authority to appoint the personnel he needed to get the job done. Mayor Alioto names historian Kevin Starr the Acting City Librarian and will later make him permanent director.
1974
A major fight develops over a site Library supporters hoped to use for a new Main Library. Doubting that the Library can raise the needed private funds for a new Main, Mayor Alioto announces that he is backing Marshall Square as site of a new Symphony Hall. Library Commission President Ed Callanan urges that the Mayor find a different location. Library supporters campaign against the move. With the help of Supervisors Ron Pelosi and Bob Mendelsohn and assistance from attorney William Coblentz, a parking lot is released by the Board of Education for the Symphony Hall site and the Library gets Marshall Square.
The Library pioneers the establishment of services for the hearing and sight impaired using video and audiotapes. A Library for the Blind and Print Handicapped is eventually established at Presidio Branch.
1975
City Librarian Starr requests an increase in the budget and, in the Spirit of 1776, marches the document over to City Hall followed by a Fife and Drum Corps dressed as Minutemen. The Library gets a six percent increase.
1976
The Library’s first automation system is installed.
The Library begins its Black Oral History Project.
“Meet Me At the San Francisco Public Library,” a public relations campaign, encourages people to visit the Library and meet William Shakespeare,
Mark Twain, the Cat in the Hat and others. It is developed by Friends board member John van der Zee.
Starr steps down as City Librarian. During the search for a new department head, three different interim directors are appointed, two for one month each and one, Edwin Castagna, for six months.
1977
John Frantz is named City Librarian. He once headed the Brooklyn Public Library and worked with the Iranian government to build a new national library.
1978
The Eureka Valley Branch is renamed as a memorial to slain Supervisor Harvey Milk, a long time Library supporter and member of the Friends.
Passage of Proposition 13, rolling back property taxes, seriously impacts the City’s ability to fund the Library and other public agencies.
City Guides, offering free neighborhood history tours, is started by Judith Lynch in the Main Library’s San Francisco History Room.
1979
San Francisco Public Library celebrates its 100th birthday with a giant cake and party in Civic Center Plaza. Friends President David Lelewer cuts the first piece with the silver plated trowel used in 1916 when the cornerstone of the old Library was put in place.
1980
City Librarian Frantz threatens closure of ten neighborhood branches and the business branch if a proposed 20 percent budget cut is enacted. The Keep Libraries Alive! group demonstrates at City Hall. The Friends pay the rent for the Business Branch.
The Friends assume responsibility for continuing the City Guides program.
1981
A budget compromise keeps all branches open.
The Library pioneers in the selection of children’s books celebrating diverse cultures and devoid of social stereotypes. The collection is named the Effie Lee Morris Historical and Research Collection of Children’s Literature, honoring the Library’s first Coordinator of Children’s Services.
1982
A report by Columbia University library expert Lowell Martin recommends consolidation of branches to save money and improve service quality. The report catalyzes the opposite effect, increasing public support for the branches.
The Friends open Book Bay at Fort Mason to sell donated books and materials. The money helps fund Library projects the City could otherwise not afford.
The Friends and City Arts & Lectures, led by Sydney Goldstein, launch a literary lecture series that proves popular with the reading public.
Mary Louise Stong is appointed to the Library Commission, where she will serve for the next six years.
1983
Project Read, a program teaching adults how to read, is launched by the Friends. Olive “Babs” Waugh is its first director. Later, the Library will take over operation of the program.
1985
Attorney James W. Haas, a member of the Friends board, convinces the group to support a masterplan for the entire Civic Center. He writes Mayor Feinstein suggesting a new Main Library on Marshall Square while moving a museum into the old Main building.
Mayor Feinstein meets with City Librarian Frantz and commissioners Callanan, Stern and Stong. The mayor is skeptical of the Library’s ability to raise significant private funds needed for a new building but listens to their arguments.
Book Buddies, a program using volunteers to read and tell stories to ill children in hospitals, is initiated.
Mayor Feinstein asks for a ten percent budget cut from the Library and other agencies to address a budget shortfall.
1986
Mayor Feinstein asks Deputy City Mayor Peter Henschel to form a task force to develop a Civic Center masterplan.
A report by consultants Becker and Hayes/Omni-Group criticizes the Main and calls for building a new Library next door on Marshall Square.
Hundreds of Library supporters meet at the Main Library and hear New York City Librarian Vartan Gregorian speak eloquently about the need for a new Main Library. It is the 25th anniversary of the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library.
1987
The Fire Marshal closes the stacks of the Main Library until 100,000 books are removed, calling it a fire hazard.
City Librarian John Frantz resigns, in part because he opposes building a new Main Library, believing that technology will reduce the need for physical storage space.
The Friends start organizing a political campaign, anticipating a bond issue for the new Main Library. (For leadership, see Box 1, 1988 Main Bond Campaign).
A second study by Becker and Hayes/Omni-Group underscores the viability of Marshall Square for a new Library. Another study by consultant Skidmore Owings & Merrill recommends that the current Main Library be used as a museum.
Mayoral candidate Art Agnos advocates construction of a new Main Library, saying, “We’ve had enough studies and task forces. Let’s act.” He is elected in December.
Deputy Mayor Henschel asks Asian Art Museum chair Judy Wilbur if the museum would be interested in leaving Golden Gate Park and taking over the old Main Library building. The idea is controversial. Her board expresses interest but no commitment is made.
Ken Dowlin, one of the nation’s leading advocates for the high tech library of the future, is hired as the new City Librarian. San Francisco Examiner columnist Bill Mandel suggests it will take “the Clint Eastwood of librarians” to succeed given all the politics and challenges.
In the final weeks of her term, Mayor Feinstein sends the Board of Supervisors a series of recommendations for Civic Center, including building a new Library on Marshall Square and turning the old Library into a museum. A construction cost estimate for the new Main Library is $120 million, a record level for a city bond. Officials overseeing city bond issues fear it will never pass and reduce the proposed funding for the Main by $15.5 million. They then add $5 million back for branch remodeling, hoping it will increase political support for the bond.
Marjorie Stern begins discussions with various business and community leaders about forming a Library Foundation to raise needed money for the new Main. She anticipates bond approval and knows that the bond will not cover fixtures, furniture and other upgrades. Many are skeptical about the Library’s ability to raise money.
(For leadership, see Box 5, Library Foundation & Main Campaign).
1988
Mayor Agnos and the Board of Supervisors approve Proposition A for the November ballot, authorizing funds to build the new Main Library and to start branch renovations. They also approve Proposition N allowing the Asian Art Museum to take control of the old Main Library. Opponents of the Library bond say it is too expensive and it would be better to remodel the old Main.
Seventy-six percent of voters approve the bond for a new Main Library.
(For leadership, see Box 1, 1988 Main Bond Campaign).
The Asian Art Museum agrees to make the old Main Library its new home. The Museum and the new Main Library share a champion. In the late 1950s, Marjorie Stern and a small group of Asian art enthusiasts convinced Chicago millionaire Avery Brundage to contribute his massive Asian art collection to San Francisco.
Marjorie Stern leaves the Library Commission and is named Honorary Commissioner for Life by Mayor Agnos.
A referendum allows collective bargaining for public employees. The Librarians Guild begins negotiating its first contract with the Library.
Budget problems force Mayor Agnos to propose cuts for various departments including the Library. A suggestion to temporarily close several branches meets strong community opposition. Eventually the Business Branch is closed but other branches are spared.
Mel and Charlotte Swig, major civic and philanthropic leaders, are approached about chairing the fundraising campaign for the new Main Library. They agree if an experienced foundation executive such as Martin Paley takes the Executive Director role. Paley agrees.
Philanthropist Ann G. Getty and Stanford Professor Emeritus John W. Gardner agree to be honorary co-chairs. Gardner, founder of Common Cause and HEW Secretary under President Lyndon Johnson, was a key architect of the Great Society.
1989
A committee of 25 community leaders, including Marjorie Stern, Mary Louise Stong and Mig Mayer, interview various architects for the new Main and recommend two firms working in association. The City approves the recommendation and hires Simon Martin-Vegue Winkelstein Moris of
San Francisco, and Pei Cobb Freed & Partners of New York City.
(For leadership, see Box 1, Designing & Building the New Main).
The challenge is designing a major new Library for the 21st Century replacing in essence a 19th Century building with outdated technology. At the same time, California’s economy is in recession, the City budget is in the red and few believe the Library can raise millions of dollars in private funds.
Mig Mayer retires as Executive Director of the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library. Jane Winslow is selected to replace her.
The Loma Prieta earthquake damages the old Main. The seven level book stacks with glass floors twist as the earth moves shearing some glass into long thick shards and dumping hundreds of thousands of books on the floor. The Library is closed. City building officials say staff cannot be ordered into such an unsafe space. Ignoring the danger, staff members volunteer to retrieve the books. The staff and 300 community volunteers then move the books to temporary storage space in an empty building in the Presidio. Repairs take several months.
When the Main re-opens, hundreds of people gather for a celebration, including a troupe of accordion players campaigning to make the accordion the official musical instrument of San Francisco. They succeed.
In support of freedom of speech, the Library hosts “I am Salman Rushdie” Day at the Main Library. Bay Area writers read excerpts from Rushdie’s 1989 book Satanic Verses. Rushdie, Indian-born and a British citizen, has gone into hiding after the religious leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini, declared the book blasphemous and called for his assassination.
Another difficult budget year forces the Library to cut services. As part of the reductions, the Library officially stops updating the out-of-date and labor-intensive card catalog, anticipating a state-of-the-art computer system in a few years.
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Box 1 (Special Sidebar/Boxed area)
Friends of the San Francisco Public Library, 1961-62
Founding members of the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library include:
President: Alan K. Browne
Vice Presidents: General Edwin L. Johnson, David Magee, Jack Pollatsek and
Marjorie Stern
Treasurer: William Mackey
Secretary: Mary Louise Stong
Board Members: John Bransten, Mortimer and Janet Fleishhacker, Jr., Mr. and Mrs. R. Gwin Follis, Dr. and Mrs. Frank Gerbode, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Haas, Lucille Mohr, Judith Pollatsek, Mr. and Mrs. Albert Schwabacher Jr.,
Mrs. Nion Tucker, George and Sally Williams, Mrs. Dean Witter,
and Mr. and Mrs. J.D. Zellerbach.
Over the next year, the Friends board membership grows to include: Mildred Bell, Mrs. Donald Biggs, William Brinton, Mrs. Francis Carroll, William Coblentz,
Hunt Conrad, Mrs. Richard Dakin, Mrs. Ralph Doscher, Robert Drewes,
Dr. Frank Fenton, E.H. Gauer, Carlton B. Goodlett, M.D., George Johns,
Gustav Knecht, Jr., Lewis Lengfield, Mrs. Robert MacDuff, Mrs. Alfred McLaughlin, Robert Marcus, William Monihan, Eugene M. Price, Alvin Rockwell and Nat Schmulowitz.
Friends Book Sale, 1964
Leadership for the first book sale include Hugh Cook, Ann Grace, Hilde Kolb, Erma Kuta, Joan Leaf, Elaine Mundy, Richard Reinhardt, Ken Train and Helen Louise Weinstein.
Main Bond Campaign, 1988
The Friends start organizing for the anticipated Library bond in 1987. Marilyn Smulyan is hired to build grassroots support. Sally Brunn of Keep Libraries Alive! lobbies the Legislature for a state library bond measure and finds Senator Milton Marks and others supportive. Volunteers are recruited to build public support, including community leaders Aileen Hernandez and Joanne Foo, attorney Fred Rodriguez and labor leader Steve Neuberger of SEIU Local 790.
Once approved for the ballot, a formal bond campaign is formed. Sherry Agnos, wife of the new Mayor, and School Superintendent Ramon Cortines are honorary co-chairs. Dick Pabich runs the campaign with leadership from consultants Marilyn Smulyan and Robert Barnes and help from a Franciscan brother and Tenderloin neighborhood activist, Kelly Cullen. Hundreds of others assist the campaign effort.
Designing & Building the New Main
James Ingo Freed and Cathy Simon lead the design team with Project Manager Anthony Bernheim. Other members in leadership roles include City Librarian Ken Dowlin, Library Project Director Kathy Page and Library Commission President Steve Coulter.
San Francisco’s Chief Administrative Officer Rudy Nothenberg leads the building efforts for the City with the help of project managers Russ Abel and later Jim Cheng. The General Contractor is Huber Hunt Nichols. Because the Library will be on the Civic Center Plaza, the Arts Commission oversees important design elements including the exterior of the building and its public art.
Prop E Campaign for Library Funding, 1994
The Friends of the Library launch a successful initiative to help stabilize Library funding and face significant opposition in their campaign. Leadership members include Friends President Diane Filippi, Mary Louise Stong, Carol Steiman, Dale Carlson, City Librarian Ken Dowlin, campaign managers John Whitehurst and Robert Barnes, pollster David Binder, David Spero and others. Steiman will later become a Library Commissioner.
(End special sidebar/boxed area)
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1990
Sheet music collector Dorothy Starr dies, leaving a vast collection of 500,000 pieces of published music. The Friends purchase the collection from her estate for the Art & Music Department of the Library.
Design work for the new Main Library is underway. Because the Board of Supervisors had earlier reduced the bond size $15.5 million, the architects and City officials eliminate one entire floor from the plan to stay within budget.
A public meeting is held at the Library for the Blind at the Presidio Branch to decide whether to relocate to the new Main Library. After vigorous debate, community leader Rose Resnick makes an impassioned speech to move to Civic Center. The group votes overwhelmingly to move.
Library Commissioner Ed Callanan, first appointed by Mayor Jack Shelley in 1964, steps down after 26 years of service.
1991
The Library Foundation begins public efforts to raise money for the new Main Library and the Chinatown Branch expansion.
A fundraising study by Charlie Howland suggests the Foundation will be unable to raise even $20 million because California is in a recession and the Library has no existing donor base. Nevertheless, Mel Swig feels the Library needs more and increases the goal to $25 million, with an additional $5 million to start an endowment.
Over the next three years, the Main Campaign, as it will be called, raises $36 million under the leadership of the Swigs and others.
(For leadership, see Box 5, Library Foundation & Main Campaign).
Chronicle Columnist Herb Caen proclaims that the new Library will henceforth be known as the New Main. Eventually the New Main periodical reading room will be named in his honor. One of his typewriters will be included in the collection.
The Library Commission adopts a Five Year Strategic Plan outlining new services for traditionally underserved communities, organizing around collections where there is broad public interest and developing more dependable sources of revenue.
Commission President Steve Coulter advocates creating a gay and lesbian historical archive, the first in a public library in the U.S. Leaders in the gay and lesbian community express strong support and help shape it. At a press conference, Mayor Agnos, Coulter and others announce its creation. Author Randy Shilts says, “We’re losing far too many people to the AIDS epidemic—it’s essential we not lose our history, too.”
(For leadership, see Box 5, Gay & Lesbian Group).
The Foundation supports the gay and lesbian archive but is concerned
about raising money for one group when funds are needed for the entire building.
The gay and lesbian organizing committee agrees to raise money for the Library
as a whole as well as the archive, setting the tone for other campaigns.
Library Foundation Executive Director Martin Paley, facing a skeptical donor community, believes the Library is the most democratic of public institutions. He makes that principal the heart of the campaign. “Many of the City’s diverse communities have both the interest and capacity to participate in private giving for the public good,” says Paley, “but generally are not asked to do so.” Paley asks them and the communities respond with enthusiasm. Many are involved in a great civic campaign for the first time.
This effort to recruit all segments of the community in the fundraising and organizing around collections and services becomes known as the “Affinity Group” campaign. The initiative is extraordinarily successful and creates an emotional depth to the campaign as different communities share their dreams, new collections and services develop with staff help, and a new sense of philanthropy blossoms in the community. As the campaign approaches the $30 million mark, over 18,000 individuals and organizations have contributed. Around the country, other libraries and civic efforts adopt a similar model.
(For leadership, see Box 5, Affinity Group Campaign).
The City’s busiest branch, Chinatown, is scheduled to be upgraded and doubled in size. A fundraising campaign, linked to the Chinese American Center in the Main Campaign, is organized. Community leader Rosalyn Koo plays a key role in the fundraising for both and in helping the Library manage problems in the City’s handling of construction and design issues relating to the branch.
(For leadership, see Box 5, Friends of the Chinatown Branch).
The Main Library opens the “Prides & Joys” exhibit of rare books and fine print volumes in the collection. It is organized by printer Andrew Hoyem,
Marjorie Stern and other book collectors and rare book enthusiasts.
Library activist Sally Brunn dies and the Library Commission re-names the Noe Valley branch in her honor in 1992. Shortly before her death, friends and officials hold an event to thank her for her years of service. She requests that it be a Library fund-raiser. Over $15,000 is raised to buy more books on political activism, according to her wish.
Labor unions help the Main building effort. The Building and Construction Trades Council led by Stan Smith agrees to tear down the old USO building on Marshall Square as a gift to the Library. During World War II, the same union built the USO as a gift to American soldiers.
The Library acquires the 10,000-volume gay and lesbian pulp fiction collection of book collectors Barbara Grier and Donna McBride of Florida. Other historic materials are donated or loaned to the Hormel Gay & Lesbian Center over the next few years, including the Harvey Milk/Scott Smith Collection, archives from the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society of Northern California, materials from Mattachine Society founder Harry Hay, author Randy Shilts and filmmakers Peter Adair and Rob Epstein.
1992
Ground is broken for the New Main Library on Marshall Square. Mayor Frank Jordan uses the same silver shovel used by Mayor James “Sunny Jim” Rolph to break ground for City Hall. Hundreds attend the ceremony.
The Library excavation uncovers part of the old jail and other rubble from City Hall when it collapsed in the 1906 earthquake. Also found are some hand bones and a wedding band, perhaps the last remains of the Yerba Buena Cemetery that once held more than 5,000 bodies and was removed in 1870.
The Library is again facing budget cuts and the economy is in a recession.
With the cry of “Find the Funds,” the Keep Libraries Alive! committee campaigns for more Library funding.
The Friends give the Library a new bookmobile to serve shut-ins and the elderly.
1993
Civic leader, philanthropist and co-chair of the Main Campaign, Mel Swig dies after a long illness. A few months earlier, Swig attends what will be his last Main Campaign rally. It is the emotional high point of the campaign. He listens as members of the Affinity Groups talk about what the campaign means to them and their communities, moving beyond symbolism to full participation in a great civic venture. An endowment is created in his name.
Another difficult budget year forces the Library to trim its book budget and hours.
A major political fight erupts when the Library proposes moving the Victorian era Pioneer Monument that sits at Hyde and Grove streets. It originally stood before the old City Hall that was demolished by the 1906 earthquake. Some historic preservationists fight the move, citing the statue’s beauty and the historical relevance of the site; Native Americans call the statue racist. The Library Foundation pays to move the 800-ton monument to a site between the old Library and the new Main.
An anonymous group of donors offers to fund a program of the Library’s choice. The Library accepts the offer and dramatically expands its telephone reference service.
1994
More proposed budget cuts mean dramatically reducing hours at some branches, further reductions in the book budget and staff reductions.
Mayor Jordan fires six of seven Library Commissioners in a budget dispute.
The Friends of the Library under the leadership of President Diane Filippi launch a ballot initiative for the Library to receive a minimal level of funding for books, materials and service hours to stop the boom and bust cycle of Library funding. When funds for the campaign run low, Mary Louise Stong loans the campaign money to continue the fight. Proposition E passes with over 70% of the vote. (For leadership, see Box 1, Prop E Campaign).
Friends for Life, a library volunteer program to bring books to those with HIV and AIDS who are housebound, is started.
The Library establishes Internet access and its initial Web site. It includes an online Community Services Directory of all San Francisco government agencies, community, neighborhood, health, human service and business groups.
Lessons learned from the Northridge earthquake in Southern California lead to re-welding critical joints in the New Main, which is still under construction. Sitting on rubber isolators that act as shock absorbers, the new building is designed to withstand an 8.3 earthquake.
The Library establishes a new program for people with dyslexia and other learning differences sponsored by the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation and the Roberts Foundation.
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Box 2 (Special Sidebar/boxed area)
Art in the New Main
The New Main Library contains a variety of major art pieces, some obtained through the City program for new buildings and others donated by individuals.
Three major pieces are incorporated into the building as part of a city program for art in new buildings.
¸ Artists Ann Hamilton and Ann Chamberlain take cards from a duplicate staff
card catalogue, invite patrons to write their observations or favorite quotes on the cards, and then embed them on three walls in the building.
¸ Artist Nayland Blake creates a 21st Century high tech list of California authors
on a five-story wall behind the grand staircase. Called Constellation, it has the names etched in mirror and then reflected by a fiber optic light cable.
¸ Between the fifth and sixth floors of the suspended glass reading room that
juts into the Main atrium is a conical and surreal spiral staircase created by sculptor Alice Aycock. Hanging in a great open space nearby is Cyclone Fragment, a ghost projection of the spiral stairs.
Other major pieces:
As a donation for the opening of the New Main, muralists Charlie Brown and Mark Evans painted the domed ceiling of the James C. Hormel Gay & Lesbian Center. The mural is entitled “Into the Light,” featuring prominent gays and lesbians through history.
Guatemalan artist Emanuel Paniagua created a freestanding mural entitled “Perhaps Better Voices (Talvez Mejores Voces.).” It is commissioned by School Board member Carlota del Portillo and donated to the Library for the Latino/Hispanic Room in 1997. It is a visual representation of the history of Latin American writers including characters from the literature of the pre-Hispanic Maya, the poetry of a 17th Century Mexican nun, and the epic verse of Argentina’s free-wheeling gauchos.
The “Double L Excentric Gyratory” mobile sculpture by artist George Rickey is installed outside the New Main in 1997. Two 18-foot steel arms shaped like Ls pivot, independent of each other, in response to air currents. It is a gift to the city from art patron Carl Djerassi.
(End of boxed sidebar)
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1995
Because of Prop E funds, the book and materials budget triples in size and system open hours increase 46%. The Main Library begins its first serious inventory in decades. Branch libraries receive thousands of new books and staff begins weeding collections to make room for new materials.
At the end of the year, the old Main Library closes to the public. For the sixth time in its history, staff prepares to move the enormous Main collection, sorting through nearly a century’s worth of accumulated materials. By hand and truck the collection is moved, this time just across the street. Tens of thousands of new books are purchased for the grand opening and tens of thousands more are donated by affinity groups and other organizations.
As librarians pull damaged, outdated or duplicate materials from the Main collection, a controversy erupts, foreshadowing rough times ahead. Critics allege that the Library is disposing of large numbers of books rather than move them to the new building. The Library administration defends the professional standards and judgment of staff. The argument escalates into a shrill debate on books and technology, tradition and change.
1996
Mayor Willie L. Brown, Jr. appoints a new Library Commission, replacing six of seven members. Sherry Agnos, honorary co-chair of the 1988 bond issue for the New Main, is appointed. Fran Streets, a retired banker and prominent civic leader, is retained.
Weldon Owen publishes A Free Library in this City, a history of the
San Francisco Public Library by Peter Booth Wiley. The publisher donates the book as a gift to the Library commemorating the years of struggle to build the New Main.
In tents outside the New Main a special Family Day event draws 12,000 parents and children. Local celebrities, including actor Robin Williams, read their favorite children’s stories.
Construction of the New Main is complete. It is one of the first major public buildings in the U.S. to incorporate many green building features. Special attention goes to indoor air quality and even the carpets use special adhesive materials to minimize indoor pollutants. It is the first building in San Francisco to have talking signs to assist sight-impaired patrons.
April 18, 1996. The new Main Library is ready to open. It is ninety years to the day since the great earthquake destroyed the old City Hall and the Main Library inside.
Thousands crowd Fulton Street between the old Main and the new, wrapping around the Pioneer Monument, and take part in the opening ceremonies.
(For details, see Box 3, New Main Opens).
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Box 3 (Special Sidebar/boxed area)
New Main Opens, April 18, 1996
¸ In a clear and soaring voice, Sara Von Davenport, a 14-year-old from Hunters
Point, sings a cappella “America the Beautiful.” ¸ An honor guard of
construction workers who built the Library march on stage in hard hats and
receive an ovation. ¸ Politicians, corporate executives, philanthropists,
librarians and Keepers of the Dream speak to the crowd about the struggle to
create the New Main. ¸ Surrounded by children from the Tenderloin, a
storyteller, J. Peter Callendar, dramatically recounts the history of the
Library. ¸ The children sing “Happy Birthday” on the first day of public life
for the New Main. ¸ Beach Blanket Babylon’s Val Diamond, wearing a giant hat
with the New Main on top, sings “San Francisco.” ¸ The San Francisco
Symphony Youth Orchestra, conducted by Alasdair Neale, plays Aaron
Copeland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man.” ¸ A plane circles high overhead
and a man jumps out, parasailing onto Civic Center. He rushes to Mayor Brown,
Charlotte Swig and others, and hands them a symbolic key. ¸ Two guards in
Beefeater uniforms open the doors of the New Main. ¸ From inside the Library
emerges a procession of characters from the book collections---the Three
Musketeers, Sir Francis Drake, Mark Twain, Cinderella, Snow White, Marie
Antoinette, Abraham Lincoln and a hundred others. ¸ The crowd rushes inside.
¸ Children hurry up and down stairs, checking out the bridges, books and the
Children’s Electronic Discovery Center. ¸ The Affinity Centers are crowded.
¸ Every computer is in use. Every chair is filled. ¸ People browse the book
stacks and examine the public art. ¸ Crowds gather in the atrium. Many
people are hugging with tears in their eyes. ¸ With Mig Mayer nearby, Marjorie
Stern and Mary Louise Stong approach the counter to check out the first books.
But Mrs. Stern has forgotten her Library card. Staff looks up her card number. A
dream is realized. ¸
(End Special Sidebar/boxed area)
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The first book checked out? Peter Wiley’s “A Free Library in this City.”
Fourteen thousand people come through the building on its first day, and the next, and the next. A million visit the building in just over three months. On weekends the doors have to be closed periodically and people asked to wait because the crowds are too large. Staff is overwhelmed but works hard to meet the demand.
The opening is not without problems. The complex seven level building opens with makeshift signs because the sign maker declares bankruptcy just before the opening and never delivers the signage. The book conveyor system that delivers materials to the sorting room can’t handle the volume and breaks down.
For an institution long starved for funding and civic attention, there is suddenly abundance on several levels: more public and private money; dramatic increases in new materials, collections and archives; a new online computer system to replace the old card catalog; heavy media attention; and massive crowds. San Franciscans are passionate about their Library, tradition and change and a lively debate rages for months.
(For details, see Box 4, Debate on the New Main).
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Box 4 (Special Sidebar/boxed area)
Debate on the New Main
The dramatic differences between the old and New Main libraries thrill many but startle others. San Francisco becomes the focus of