Dear Community,
Since March is Women’s History Month, I thought it would be an appropriate time to share the origin story of the Corvallis Public Library.
In 1883, the Corvallis Coffee Club was formed by Mrs. Rose J. Wilson, who saw a need to serve coffee and sandwiches to firefighters on duty. She invited eight other women to join her: Mrs. L. H. Additon, Mrs. M. A. Atwood, Miss Kate Carlile, Mrs. James Cauthorn, Mrs. F. A. Helm, Miss Eda Jacobs, Miss Rose Jacobs, and Mrs. Nellie Woodward. They began their work immediately.
The activities of the Coffee Club soon expanded to include a variety of other community service projects and fundraisers, and at the club’s meeting on October 30, 1899, the group voted to create a Coffee Club Library. This led to the formation of a Library Committee in charge of selecting books for the collection. The first two books purchased were Pilgrim’s Progress and World Almanac. For those especially curious, the library was housed on the same floor as the fire department!
Initially, these library books were only for members of the Coffee Club. According to club minutes, it took a “liberal donation” of $30 by the firemen for them to receive “the privilege” of using the collection too! It would take another 15 years for the collection to become the official Corvallis Public Library, and 16 years after that, in 1920, the City of Corvallis assumed responsibility for the library.
Mrs. Rose J. Wilson eventually became the first chair of the Library Board, and the Corvallis Coffee Club eventually became the Corvallis Woman’s Club, and to them we are immeasurably thankful!
One last fun fact about our library and the women involved in the history of the system: there have been a total of 23 Library Directors spanning 111 years of library leadership in CBCPL’s history. 20 of those directors have been female, providing 89 years (and counting!) of dedicated leadership to our amazing library system.
If you are interested in learning more about the history of the library, including the women who played an important role in its development, I suggest placing a hold on the interesting and well-researched book, The Best Gift: the History of Corvallis-Benton County Public Library by Thomas C. McClintock.
Best,
Ashlee