Sutro Library tour

A little while back, I had the opportunity to take a tour of the Sutro Library in San Francisco.  This is one of my most favoritest libraries evah, so I jumped at the chance to get a behind the scenes look.  The library is part of the California State Library system and has one of the largest genealogy collections west of Salt Lake City, which is how I discovered it.  However, it wasn’t until more recently that I learned of all the amazing other things hidden away in their collection.  I thought they had a lot of goodies in the stacks, but there were even more in the archives.

I began visiting the library somewhere around 10 years ago to try to find the birth family of my grandfather, who gave him up for adoption with no info other than his parents’ names.  Lo and behold, I broke the “brick wall” of this part of the family tree in a dark room of the library filled with microfilm machines and drawers full of census records.  Ever since then, I’ve loved this place.  Their resources are amazing.  I’ve even found my mother in a Honolulu telephone book.

The library moved in 2012 to a new space on the San Francisco State University campus.  Since that was the year I also began the MLIS program, I never had the chance to visit.  I was happy to discover it was worth the wait.  The space is of course much larger, but also brighter (no windows in the last place that I can remember) and felt more welcoming.

The Sutro Library collections come from Adolph Sutro, a former San Francisco mayor and apparently an extremely avid book collector who had the largest private library in the world at the time.  Sutro felt that San Francisco was still pretty wild, as it wasn’t too long after the Gold Rush, and wanted to make the city more modern and cultured.  His philosophy was to buy in bulk, even purchasing books that had been thrown in the trash.  One such example is the library’s Mexicana collection, where Sutro bought the inventory of the largest book store in Mexico City, the Libreria Abadiano, yielding several thousand items pre-1900 and much more.

Unfortunately, Sutro died (1898) before the library he envisioned was built and the books were stored in two different locations.  Even more unfortunately, the 1906 earthquake and fire destroyed an astounding two-thirds of the books, yet 70,000 managed to survive.  Sutro didn’t keep an inventory (!) so the library is not sure what did not survive the quake, but they do have some receipts and other things to help piece together the original collection.

The real excitement began when we went into the closed stacks, and a conference room where the librarian had already brought out special items for the tour.

I learned that these enormous books are called elephant folios

Bound issues of The Star

A mysterious miniature cuneiform tablet that they don’t know how got into the collection

Tlatelolco library, part of the Mexicana collection, from 1500s to 1700s

A Shakespeare first folio from 1623, one of only 233 in the world (all of the books from here down were already opened, so I couldn’t get any pics of the covers.)

A first edition of the King James Bible, 1611

“King Charles I, his speech made upon the scaffold”, 1649.  This is the speech made before his execution.

This book from 1470 is the first printed book of music.  I didn’t catch the name of it while I was there, but after exploring the library’s catalog, I believe this is the Constitutis, cuattentione dicende by Johannes Gerson.

A Japanese print

An illuminated book

The library is cataloged with both Library of Congress (LC) and Dewey Decimal, and they are slowly converting everything to LC.

Some of the other resources available are:

• A surname catalog (a bunch of people on the tour started checking to see if their surnames were in it!)
• A locality catalog
• 10,000 British pamphlets
• American pamphlets from the 1500s-1800s
• Works Progress Administration records
• Sutro Baths posters
• About 50 incunabula (pre-1500)
• 4,000 family histories
• Daughters of the American Revolution publications
• Italian manuscripts from the 15th to 17th centuries

The library is open Monday through Friday from 10 to 5.   The library also offers email and online reference support.  The staff has always been very helpful and friendly when I’ve asked questions.

Holyoke Public Library Then and Now

Sorry so quiet lately, but I think I have major senioritis and have been trying to spend as much time offline as possible.  But, I have a bunch of new vintage library postcards to share, starting with Holyoke, MA!

Holyoke is one of the larger cities in western Massachusetts, located on the Connecticut River near Springfield, with about 40,000 residents.  It was the first planned industrialized city in the country and was once a huge paper manufacturer.

The Holyoke Public Library was founded in 1870 by the Holyoke Library Corporation as a private organization, at a time when the population was only 10,000 people.  After receiving a donation and 1200 books, it opened in an old schoolroom, with Sarah Ely serving as its first librarian.  As a private library, it charged $1 a year to check out books until 1886.  In 1876, it moved to a room in City Hall.  It was moved to its current location in 1902 in what was a 25,000 square foot building on Maple Street and is one of the few neoclassical style buildings in the city.  In 1912, a natural history museum opened in the library and stayed until the 1950s.  From the 1940s to 1950s, the system opened three branch libraries, but they appear to have closed.

The library then, circa early 1900s

And now, in 2013 after a renovation

The library underwent a huge renovation in 2013, which added a teen room, computer lab and classroom, study rooms, a community room, and reading areas.  The remodel also added an additional 15,000 square feet to the building, and moved its entrance to what was originally the back.  What do you think about the new addition?  The design couldn’t be more different.

The library has 11 librarians and library assistants, and a History Room archivist, among other staff.  The History Room has information on Holyoke and genealogy resources.  It also offers digital collections.  The library has free streaming movies and music and career resources for patrons. And it has the common children’s, teen, adult, and reference services, online catalog, and events. The only thing that really struck me about the website is the very first thing on the home page is a large message asking for donations with a PayPal button.  I’m all about supporting libraries, but it seems like the services should be listed first and asking for donations toward the end.

When I wrap up classes in December, I think I’ll contact the History Room to see if they can help research a few Irish ancestors who lived in Holyoke back in the mid 1850s.  What a wonderful resource!

Sources

Holyoke, Mass Holyoke Public Library page

Holyoke Public Library official site

City of Holyoke History

Library grand re-opening article

2013 Images

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

I usually wouldn’t share two book lists in a row, but I couldn’t resist making another list of books on Ireland in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day.  This is by no means a comprehensive list of all things Irish, rather just a title or two on a few different topics.  I’m happy to put together a list of suggested titles on other subjects if people would like.  Just let me know in the comments.  As always, these books were well-reviewed in trade publications such as Publishers Weekly.

On a total side note, I have been studying my family’s genealogy for several years and as many who attempt to research their Irish roots have found, it is incredibly challenging!  If you have any suggestions for books, resources, or other tips, please share.

Walking in Ireland: 50 Walks Through the Heart and Soul of Ireland

Ireland’s Best Trips: 37 Amazing Road Trips

The Story of Ireland: A History of the Irish People  

Atlas of the Great Irish Famine  – starred review in Booklist

Tracing Your Irish Ancestors: The Complete Guide

A New Genealogical Atlas of Ireland

Real Irish Food: 150 Classic Recipes from the Old Country– starred review in Booklist

Irish People, Irish Linen 

And for kids:

St. Patrick’s Day

Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine, 1845-1850

And then not reviewed, but just for fun

Speak Irish Now

Irish-English/English-Irish Easy Reference Dictionary

If you would like to hear Irish being spoken, check out RTE, Ireland’s national radio station.  To hear live streaming, go to the box in the center labeled “Ar an aer” (on air) and click the play arrow button next to the words “Eist anois” (listen now).  Very interesting!  Now I want to learn to speak Irish.

And on a personal note, I have used The Country Cooking of Ireland and
Irish Puddings, Tarts, Crumbles, and Fools and liked them both.  The Dublin Murder Squad series by Tana French is also good.

Any other suggested books on Ireland?

Still reading House of Leaves.  I’m stuck on the first chapter.

All images via each book’s Amazon page.