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| Historic
California Posters
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Profiles
of State Librarians of California*
1850 – Present |
| The following consist of short biographies
of the twenty-two men and women who have guided the California
State Library during its first 157 years. Kathy Correia,
Supervising Librarian of the California History Section
and John Gonzales, former Senior Librarian in the Section,
compiled these profiles. Much of this information originally
appeared in the Spring/Summer 2000 issue of the California
State Library Foundation Bulletin. |
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The
California State Library was created on January 24, 1850
by legislation signed by Governor Peter H. Burnett. Previously,
in December 1849 Colonel Jonathan D. Stevenson and Senator
Thomas J. Green of Sacramento had donated books in anticipation
of a library being created by the Legislature. Later,
on January 19, 1850, John C. Frémont donated 100
books. These gifts formed the nucleus of the California
State Library’s collection.
The January 24, 1850 legislation placed the direction
of the California State Library under the California Secretary
of State, who was designated ex officio State Librarian.
Originally the office of Secretary of State was not at
an elected position, but a three-year governor’s
appointment, subject to State Senate confirmation.
The original law stated that all books coming into the
possession of the State, purchased or donated, were to
be kept in the office of the Secretary of State and were
to be considered the collection of the State Library.
The legislation specified that a suitable place for the
State Library was to be found and that the library be
operated to meet the objectives set forth. However, these
objectives were not established until legislation was
signed on April 9, 1850. This law restricted who could
borrow books, imposed a two book circulation limit rule,
and instituted a loan period of two weeks. Lost books
were to be charged at three times their value, circulation
records were to be kept by the librarian, and final payment
for legislative session attendance would be withheld until
all borrowers’ book accounts were cleared. The librarian
was also given authority to pursue civil action against
any delinquent accounts.
The State Library’s first eleven years of existence
were spent under the care of the Secretary of State, literally
in his office. The ex officio State Librarian has other
duties, but did provide space and the function of a library
to the Legislature, governor, and other state officials.
Usage was restricted to state officials and would remain
so until James L. Gillis became State Librarian.
The California State Library remained under the control
of the Secretary of State until 1861. The following six
men served as ex officio State Librarian and Secretary
of State during that time.
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| William
Van Voorhies, 1849 – 1853 |
William
Van Voorhies was the first ex officio State Librarian.
His appointment came right after his twenty-second birthday.
First elected as state senator from San Francisco, he
resigned to become Secretary of State. Born in Tennessee
in 1823 and a lawyer by profession, he made his way to
California on February 28, 1849 via Washington, D.C. where
he had been appointed an assistant postmaster general
with the duty of establishing post offices in California.
Van Voorhies was reappointed Secretary of State on January
9, 1852 but resigned on February 19, 1853 to become the
surveyor of the Port of San Francisco. He moved to Oakland,
where he practiced law and published two newspapers: first
the Alameda Gazette and in later years, the Alameda Democrat.
He was married in 1854 to the daughter of the California’s
second governor, John McDougal. At the age of 58, he served
as a delegate to California’s Second Constitutional
Convention. He died on September 26, 1884 in Eureka while
on a newspaper assignment for the Humboldt Standard.
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| James
W. Denver, 1853 – 1855 |
James
W. Denver, the second ex officio State Librarian, was
appointed Secretary of State by Governor Bigler on February
19, 1853 and reappointed on January 9, 1854.
Denver was born in Virginia in 1817, moved to Ohio as
a child and later graduated from Cincinnati Law School.
He served in the Mexican War, and in 1861 was commissioned
a brigadier general in the Union Army.
In 1852 Governor Bigler placed him in charge of the relief
supply trains for overland immigrants arriving in California.
The California State Legislature had voted to supply assistance
to recent arrivals who were experiencing great difficulties
traversing the mountain passages to California. Edward
Gilbert, the editor of the San Francisco Alta California,
strongly criticized the efforts of Governor Bigler and
consequently James W. Denver in his newspaper. Growing
animosity led to a duel that was fought between the two
on August 2, 1852.
Gilbert’s first shot went wide and Denver shot into
the ground and he attempted to leave. Both sets of seconds
insisted on the participants firing again. Denver shot
and killed Gilbert on the second round of shooting. Dueling
had previously been outlawed in California, but public
opinion had been so strongly in Denver’s support
that no action was ever taken against him.
From the beginning, when the State Library was established
through the donation of books, there was an on-going need
to continue building the collection. California’s
legislators recognized the importance of having an outstanding
collection of resources. The Library Fund was created
on May 1, 1852. It established fees to be collected by
the Secretary of State as a way to build-up the Library’s
collection. Unfortunately, the Library Fund did not generate
all of the funds necessary to create the collection that
was envisioned.
James W. Denver, recognizing that the fund would not support
the State Library, suggested that the Library be separated
from his office and that a more reliable and productive
source of revenue be created. He suggested an immediate
appropriation of $10,000. He also proposed that continuing
fees derived from local land patents sold by the state
and fees collected from peddler’s licenses be used
to add revenues. In response to his suggestions an act
was approved on May 5, 1855 that allocated $2,500 to the
Library for contingent expenses. It is important to note
that the function of State Librarian was separated from
the duties of Secretary of State in 1861.
Denver resigned as Secretary of State on November 1, 1855
upon his election to Congress where he served two years.
After his term in Congress, President Buchanan named him
as commissioner of Indian Affairs and later as the Governor
of the Territory of Kansas which included Colorado. Perhaps
what James W. Denver is most noted for is that the city
of Denver, Colorado is named after him.
He died on August 9, 1892 in Washington, D.C. where he
had practiced law until his death at the age of seventy-five.
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| Charles
H. Hempstead, 1855 – 1857 |
Charles
H. Hempstead, the third ex officio State Librarian, was
a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and was born September
29, 1832. Hempstead arrived in California in 1852 and
secured a position as personal secretary to Governor Bigler.
He was appointed by Governor Bigler as James W. Denver’s
successor as Secretary of State on November 5, 1855. Charles
had just celebrated his twenty-second birthday five weeks
before his appointment.
He left the office of Secretary of State in 1857 when
President James Buchanan appointed him superintendent
of the United States Mint in San Francisco. This position
ended in 1861 when President Buchanan left office. Hempstead
went to Utah and joined the Union forces under General
Connor. His military service was spent in Utah and by
the end of the civil war he had attained the rank of captain.
After his discharge, he was in the newspaper business
and later practiced law. President Grant appointed him
United States Attorney for the Utah Territory. He died
at the age of fifty-seven in Salt Lake City on September
28, 1879.
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| David
F. Douglass, 1856 – 1858 |
David
F. Douglass, the fourth ex officio State Librarian, was
born in Tennessee on January 8, 1821. After a fight and
the resulting death of a physician in 1839, he served
fourteen months in prison in Arkansas. Later, during the
Mexican War, he served with the Texas Volunteers and eventually
came to California as a teamster with his regiment.
He settled in the San Joaquin district of the California
Central Valley and in 1849 was elected to the first session
of the California State Senate from this district. In
1850, the Legislature elected him a brigadier general
in the State Militia. A year later, President Fillmore
appointed him United States Marshall for California. He
served again in the Assembly during the sixth session,
once more for San Joaquin County.
He was a successful farmer and died at his home in San
Joaquin County on June16, 1872 at the age of fifty-four.
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| Ferris
Forman, 1858 – 1860 |
Ferris
Forman, the fifth ex officio State Librarian, was appointed
Secretary of State by Governor Weller on January 9, 1858.
He was already a successful attorney and had served as
postmaster of Sacramento and had been judge of California’s
Sixth Judicial District.
Born in New York on August 25, 1807, he graduated from
Union College in Schenectady and was a trained lawyer.
President Martin Van Buren, a friend of his family, appointed
him United States Attorney for Illinois and later he was
elected a state senator for Illinois. He raised a regiment
of Illinois volunteers for the Mexican War and was commissioned
a colonel. After the war, he settled in Sacramento, California
in 1849. During the Civil War his commission was reactivated,
but he was denied combat duty and consequently resigned
his commission. He resumed his legal career in Illinois
and returned to California some twenty years later, where
at the age of ninety-four he died on February 11, 1901.
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| Johnson
Price, 1860 – 1862 |
Johnson
Price was the sixth and last ex officio State Librarian.
He was appointed Secretary of State by Governor Latham
on January 10, 1860 and served until replaced by William
H. Weeks on January 11, 1862. He served as ex officio
State Librarian until 1861 when legislation placed the
Library under the control of a board of Trustees who had
the power to appoint at State Librarian.
Price was by profession a physician and had served in
this capacity during the Mexican War. He arrived in California
in 1849 and practiced medicine in Sacramento.
Price’s political career began when he was elected
to the California Senate on November 6, 1858 to complete
the unexpired term of W. I. Ferguson. He was one of twenty-eight
Lecompton Democrats in the Senate. After his term as Secretary
of State, Price settled in San Francisco where he became
a stockbroker. He died in San Francisco at the age of
forty-five from tuberculosis on April 8, 1868.
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| Endnote |
| 1.
The above information was adapted from an article entitled
“California’s Ex-Officio State Librarians,
1850-1861” written by Peter T. Conmy that appeared
in News Notes of California Libraries, Volume 69, no.
2-3-4, 1974. |
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APPOINTED
STATE LIBRARIANS
1861 to present |
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| William
C. Stratton, 1861 – 1870 |
The
California State Library was under the control of the
California Secretary of State from 1850 to 1861. In 1861,
legislation placed the Library under the control of a
Board of Trustees who had the power to appoint a State
Librarian. William C. Stratton was the first State Librarian
chosen under this system and he served from March 16,
1861 to January 22, 1870.
Stratton was born in Albany, New York on December 14,
1826. At the age of 18 he taught school in central New
York City, pursued business interests and studied law.
He was admitted to the bar and moved to New Jersey. While
a resident of New Jersey, he was elected to its Legislature
and served from 1849 to 1853.
In 1856, Stratton moved to California and settled in Placer
County. He continued his political career as a member
of the California Assembly, representing Placer County
from 1856 to 1859. He served as Speaker of the Assembly
in 1859.
As State Librarian, William C. Stratton was praised in
contemporary newspapers as being “active, courteous,
industrious and indefatigable in the discharge of his
duties”. He is credited with developing the State
Library’s collections and classifying materials
so that they could be located. Stratton had been hired
by the legislature in 1860 to prepare a descriptive catalog
of the Library’s collection. He did, however, not
escape controversy during his tenure as State Librarian.
There were members of the legislature who thought him
a Confederate sympathizer. Consequently, members of the
Assembly introduced legislation that sought to remove
individuals from the Board of Trustees who supported Stratton.
The legislation was postponed, however, and his supporters
remained on the Board of Trustees.
The controversy surrounding Stratton continued when the
Sacramento floods of December 1861 and January 1862 damaged
some of the Library’s materials. The high water
mark was thought to have been reached in December 1861,
but the second flood in January 1862 was two feet higher!
The shelving, weakened by flooding, collapsed and caused
books to be thrown into the water. Local newspapers described
some of the damaged items as “rare and valuable
works.” Eventually Stratton was cleared of blame
and the books were rebound or replaced.
Stratton resigned as State Librarian on January 22, 1870.
In 1860, before being appointed State Librarian, he had
begun a successful law practice in Sacramento. Upon his
resignation, he resumed his law practice in Sacramento
until his move to Santa Barbara in 1873. Stratton died
there on May 2, 1898.
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| William
Neely Johnson , January 24, 1870 – April 5, 1870 |
William
Neely Johnson was appointed State Librarian on January
24, 1870 and served until April 5, 1870. The Board of
Trustees chose him to fill the rest of the unexpired term
of W. C. Stratton. Johnson’s choice as Librarian
was unique as he was blind at the time of his appointment.
William Neely Johnson was born in Evansville, Indiana
in 1826. He came to California sometime in the early 1850s
with his brother John Neely Johnson who was later Governor
of California from 1856 to 1858. In 1856, William was
appointed secretary of the Board of Land Commissioners.
The Board of Land Commissioners at the time consisted
of the governor, secretary of state and the state treasurer.
Johnson went on to become head of the Sacramento Land
Office in the 1860s and was removed from this position
in 1869 when he lost his sight. He had sought initial
treatment for his vision loss in California and was treated
on the East Coast in 1866, but these efforts failed to
restore his vision. Johnson resumed his law practice in
June 1869 specializing in cases presented before the United
States Land Office in Washington, D.C.
A special testimonial was presented to Johnson on February
6, 1870 in the form of a gold stem repeater watch and
matching chain. The watch noted hours and minutes by sound.
Johnson was honored for his “past services, also
as a public officer and citizen of the Capital City and
in appreciation of his upright and honorable conduct exhibited
in all the relations of private life.”
William Neely Johnson left the office of State Librarian
and resumed his law practice. He died June 24, 1885 in
San Francisco at the age of fifty-nine.
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| Robert
O. Cravens, 1870 – 1882 |
Robert
O. Cravens was the third State Librarian appointed by
the Board of Trustees. He was first appointed on April
6, 1870 and was unanimously reappointed again in 1874
and in 1878. It is interesting to note that the make-up
of the Board of Trustees changed over the years and that
Robert O. Cravens was appointed by two of the three different
combinations of board members.
In 1852, the Board of Trustees consisted of the governor,
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