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| Sacramento Free Library Building |
On June 14th 1879, the Sacramento Free Public Library opened its doors to the public. The City of Sacramento took over the building formerly owned by the Sacramento Library Association. The Sacramento Free Library was remodeled twice, once in 1894, and again in 1906. The first remodel added a women's reading room, the second added a children's room and a reference room.
Prior to the opening in 1879 a detailed inventory was completed, and a new cataloging system with separate catalogs for each genre was designed. Initially, only one book at a time could be checked out, with the patron writing the title and shelf number on a card, and the librarian retrieving the book (Internet Archive-American Libraries, 2011).
Finding Aid:The Dewey Decimal System was invented in 1873, but
did not become universally accepted until much later.
"In 1898 an aid to finding books in the Sacramento Public
Library was awarded a medal at the World's Columbian
Exposition"(Sacramento Public Library Digital Collection,
2011, para. 4).
The First Librarian
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| Caroline (Carrie) Hancock |
Her schoolhouse had "a lean-to at the back, in which Miss Hancock made her home during the school term. The number of children at the opening of this school was fourteen, of which three were of American and eleven of Mexican parentage" (Farish, 1918, p. 250).
In Arizona in the mid-1870's, Boards of Examiners were organized for the purpose of determining the fitness of school teachers. Carrie G. Hancock was awarded a teaching diploma in September 1875. Carrie began teaching in Phoenix in 1876, at which time she was paid $100 per month.
In 1877 Carrie returned to Sacramento, and in 1879 she became the first librarian of the Sacramento Free Library, for which she was paid $60 per month. Carrie remained the librarian until 1900, when she returned to Arizona and Lauren W. Ripley took over as Sacramento's librarian (Farish, 1918).
Lauren W. Ripley:
Lauren Ripley was born in Sacramento in 1864. He began his library career as assistant librarian in January 1882, while still in high school. In 1900 Ripley was appointed to the position of librarian, and he served in that capacity until 1921. His replacement was Susan T. Smith, a Columbia University Graduate, and the first person to serve as Sacramento's librarian who had a library degree. A 1902 article in the Sacramento Union described Ripley thus:
"His record both for length of service and high efficiency is hardly surpassed
by any in the state. He has devoted his best efforts to the upbuilding and
advancement of Sacramento's literary interests, and to making the library
the civic power for good which it really is when properly managed. Library
economics and management have passed through their greatest period of
development to their high state of efficiency since Mr. Ripley became connected
with the work, and he has constantly kept abreast of the progress in this pusuit,
which has in fact risen to the rank of a profession and requires talents of a high order."
Lauren Ripley oversaw tremendous growth in the Sacramento Public Library's volume of material, circulation, and readership. He was at the helm when the new Carnegie library was built.
A New Library
Even with two remodels, by 1913 the City of Sacramento had outgrown its library building. "Carnegie funding was sought but was denied because the Carnegie program then emphasized branches rather than expensive and monumental central libraries" (Internet Archives-American Libraries, 2011, para.2). The library commissioners argued that "they maintained libraries in all of the public schools and in several fire stations, all books circulating through the inadequate present building" (para. 3). The Carnegie Foundation relented and granted Sacramento $100,000 to build a library, the second highest amount given to any California community for a single library. The City Commission purchased a section of land at 9th and I Streets from Mrs. Adelheid Heison for $98,000 in 1914. After a design competition, construction on the new library began in 1917. The Carnegie Library, later to be called Sacramento City Central Library, opened to the public in April of 1918 (Internet Archives-American Libraries, 2011).
Andrew Carnegie and Carnegie Libraries
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| Andrew Carnegie |
within its reach the ladders upon which the aspiring can rise"
-Andrew Carnegie
This statement illustrates the importance of libraries in Andrew Carnegie's life. The self-educated millionaire industrialist believed he had "a moral obligation to give away his wealth in a manner that best served the public good" (Rizzo, 2006, para. 7). At the age of 65 he sold Carnegie Steel Company, and devoted the rest of his life to philanthropic work. Between 1886 and 1919, Carnegie constructed 1679 public library buildings in the United States, at a cost of over 440 million (Scheppke, 2009).
Carnegie had two main reasons for donating money to founding libraries. First "he believed that libraries added to the meritocratic nature of America", and second "was for the cultural education of immigrants" (Lorenzen, 1999, para.4). Critics accused Carnegie of being an "egotist who liked the attention giving money got him" (Lorenzen, para. 5). Regardless, Andrew Carnegie gave away 90 percent of his fortune in his lifetime.
To be eligible for a grant a community "had to demonstrate the need for a public library, provide the building site, and promise to support library services and maintenance with tax funds equal to 10 percent of the grant annually" (Senville, 2001, para. 4). Just before World War I, the Carnegie Foundation shifted its emphasis to library service rather than construction.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, civic minded reformers sought to improve urban life and embraced the City Beautiful movement. "City Beautiful wasn't just about beauty; it sought to teach the principles of democracy through architecture" (Rizzo, 2006, para.4). Although the Carnegie program had a recommended style for a library building, it did not make this style mandatory. "Municipal authorities in each town were required to hire their own architect" (Van Slyck, 2009, para.4).
The Architect
A competition was held to determine who was to design the new library building in Sacramento. Out of 56 sets of drawings the City Commission picked the design of Loring Pickering Rixford. Rixford was born September 20, 1870 in San Francisco to a prominent family of artists. After graduating from high school, Rixford majored in architecture at UC Berkeley, where he was a student of Bernard Maybeck at the Mark Hopkins Institute. After graduating from college in 1894, Rixford went to work in the office of architect Albert Pissis.
In 1896, Rixford continued his studies in Paris at the Ecole des Beaux Arts under Victor Laloux. Returning to San Francisco in 1901, Rixford opened his own practice.
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| Supervisors survey earthquake damage in 1906 |
After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, Rixford was elected to the Board of Supervisors on the reform slate. His work on the board included surveys of the destruction, and plans for the reconstruction of the city. In 1909, Rixford was appointed chief architect for the City of San Francisco. In 1915, he entered his design for the Carnegie Library in Sacramento. Rixford designed a rectangular, three-story, Italian Renaissance style building that was completed in 1918. It was the only Carnegie Library he designed.
During his career Rixford also designed The Bohemian Club in San Francisco, and The Union Club Building and the Provincial Royal Jubilee Hospital in Canada. During World War I, he served with the Red Cross in France. Loring P. Rixford died in 1946, and is buried in Palo Alto California (Western Architect and Engineer, 1915).
Ecole des Beaux Arts
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| Ecole des Beaux Arts Building, Paris |
(p. 78). American architects took the traditions of European design, and simplified them with "an American spirit of Republicanism" (p. 78). In the United States city planning was becoming popular, and in 1916 New York City became the first municipality to zone space for specific purposes (P. 82). Study at the Ecole des Beaux Arts gave American architects a Neoclassical sensibility that they then translated into a principle of rational balance.
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