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Greetings~
I was thinking about Women's History Month and the intersection with our Monterey Public Library. I wrote before about the Carnegie Library here in Monterey (425 Van Buren Street). Fascinating to me is that Andrew Carnegie visited the site while under construction while he stayed at the Hotel Del Monte. But even more interesting is that our first City Librarian was Etta Eckhardt - who served for 30 years from 1907-1937.
Monterey often claims to be the first public library in California, but I'm not certain if we can claim that we were continuously public or open! By the late 1800's, the library had been moved several places - El Cuartel, Colton Hall, and the Monterey School House. Well, unfortunately the schoolhouse burned down - along with most of the library collection. A "Ladies Circulation Book Club" was formed in 1901 to create a public library of-sorts along Alvarado Street, moving several times. People paid dues (40 cents quarterly or one dollar annually) and many prominent Monterey women were part of this reading club. Mayo Hayes O'Donnell wrote that they also held tea in the reading room for 10 cents per cup. Twelve women had accumulated nearly 1,200 books for their reading collection. The women's reading club collection was formally transferred to the City of Monterey on January 2nd 1907. The members included notable women including Hattie Gragg (Stokes Adobe), Katherine Sargent (founder of Monterey's Civic Club) and Emily Fish (Point Pinos lighthouse keeper) among others.
Etta Eckhardt was originally from Gilroy, but moved here to serve as the interim secretary for the reading club while secretary and custodian Clara Zimmerman was on vacation. When the City took over the reading collection, Clara declined the role and Etta accepted without any training. Over the years she continued her education and training in libraries and was our first City Librarian.
In 1908, the City began looking into a site for a City-owned library building; Carnegie donated the cost of the building construction and Ada Freitas donated the land where the library was built. Building next to Custom House or First Theater was considered, but didn't meet the requirements as they were state lands. Part of Carnegie's offer was that residents needed to tax themselves to provide library services, otherwise the building would go back to the original land owner. Etta led the library through the foundational era of becoming a true community library.
When she retired, she was given a city proclamation that was a hand-engraved designed by artist Paul Whitman. By that time, the library was a thriving community service with 20,000 volumes and several full-time staff.
Fun fact: Volume #1 in the City's Library collection was Janice Meredith by Paul Leicester Ford.
Oh and a reminder to take a vacation sometime folks. I read an article that Etta didn't take her first extended vacation until 1930, 23 years after she started the job! She definitely earned that european vacation...
Warmly,
Brian
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