Ina Coolbrith was a legend in her own time. Now she is all but forgotten. A small park on Russian Hill bears her name along with a mountain and a poetry grant award. Her life was a long and interesting one. Her biographer spent ten years writing of her life as one of the Golden Gate Trinity of Harte, Stoddard, and Coolbrith, and later as librarian, and the first poet laureate of California.[1] The Eighteen years she spent as librarian of the Oakland Free Library were the low point of her poetic career. It was certainly no personal high point when she was summarily dismissed with no chance to defend herself against charges that were never made. In 1969, the City Librarian of Oakland used the incident to demonstrate the need for tenure of head librarians.[2] A closer investigation of Ina Coolbrith’s personal life, the social history of Oakland, and the influence of national trends, will yield a different conclusion.
Ina Coolbrith was born Josephine Donna Smith, niece of Joseph Smith. She was born in 1841, and both her father and uncle died in the massacre of Mormons. Ina, along with her sister and mother would escape and assume the maiden name of Coolbrith. These facts remained unknown till after Ina’s death. After remarrying, her mother moved the family to California. At the age of ten, Ina and her family were the first to ride with Jim Beckwourth across his new Southern pass. They settled in Los Angeles when it was still a pueblo. Her reminiscences of this time became a primary source for Los Angeles history.[3] As a teenager, her poems were occasionally published in both Los Angeles and San Francisco. At eighteen, she married. Three years later she divorced, amid accusations of adultery, a gunfight, and a child about which nothing is known except that it died.[4]
Life began again for Ina when she moved to San Francisco. The beautiful unattached poetess fell in with Brett Harte and Charles Warren Stoddard. Together, the “trinity” published the Overland Monthly. Ina’s house was literally the place to be in San Francisco. In her later years, talks based on the events of those days became a necessary source of income. As the years went on, Ina’s familial responsibilities increased. In the 1870’s, she cared for her mother, her newly orphaned nephew and niece, and the daughter of Joaquin Miller. Under these conditions, Ina decided to accept the position of librarian at the new Oakland library rather than explore opportunities in the East. After her dismissal, she eventually found unsatisfactory employment at the Mercantile Library. In 1899, she was offered a less demanding position at the Bohemian Club. In 1906, she lost everything in the Great Fire and took longer than most to regain stability. In 1915, she organized the World Congress of Authors and was nominated poet laureate. The position was honorary and Ina spent the rest of her life struggling financially. She died in 1928 at the age of 87.
The City of Oakland was second only to Eureka in establishing a free public library in California. In 1874, the founders wanted a person who would symbolize culture in the “Athens of the Pacific.” Ina Coolbrith was an ideal choice because she was a woman, she earned only a fraction of the salary of a male of any stature. Female librarians were seen as a progressive development in that women were allowed to work at all. To attract patrons, libraries of the time adopted a home-like atmosphere. This was the age of the “genteel library hostess,’ introducing the public to higher culture and democratic values.[5] Ina fit this role well. Upon finishing high school, her niece and nephew formed the staff of the library. Although Ina wrote less, the first ten years in Oakland were personally gratifying.
In 1883, Ina Coolbrith was under attack. As in most cities, the Board of Trustees traditionally consisted of members of the ruling class. This was the case until the election of Mr. Trefethen. Described as a “typical ward politician,” he succeeded in upsetting the status quo in a process dubbed “Trefethenization.”[6] This included banning Zola, begging for periodical donations, and firing Ina”s niece. After the firing on charges of nepotism, Trefethen appointed his sister as assistant. When he attacked Ina on the matter of the library being without a catalog he had a more substantial point. The lack of a catalog made Ina�s knowledge of the collection indispensable. The science of cataloging was a new one and Ina had only recently become interested in its application.[7] At the close of 1883, Ina proposed a catalog of her own design consisting of “7 or 8 divisions.”[8] She began work on the catalog in January. Progress was slow and when the board complained, Ina refused to do two jobs at once.[9] In a well-balanced move, Ina took six months leave (the duration of the boards term) while the board hired a professional cataloger at $0.04 per work. Upon her return, a more traditional board replaced Trefethen (Boalt, McChesney, Graham, Kellog, Melvin). His sister resigned, the cataloger completed the project, and Ina resumed her position.[10] All seemed to end well but the seeds of Ina’s future dismissal were sown.
Ina had doubts about her nephew Henry Peterson. While on leave, she advised him to not “…work yourself to death proving to the trustees that only two are needed in the library,” and reminded him that “If I can’t get back in the library, we will have to break up.”[11] During Ina’s absence, Henry was undoubtedly involved with the cataloging project. He may have also begun to see himself in the larger scheme of things. The day of the library hostess was on the wane. The condescending notion of librarian as cultural guide would not stand up against the waves of immigrant cultures to come. A public library had to be popular to obtain public funds. The American Library Association (A.L.A.) was dedicated to establishing national standards and raising professional prestige. The age of professional librarianship was underway and the science of cataloging was its knowledge base.[12] When in 1889, the time came for a supplement to the catalog, Henry was ready to take charge.
It is difficult to judge Henry’s motives from this point on. His subsequent actions destroyed his relationship with Ina permanently. They involved personal changes but they also reflected the development of librarianship as a profession. The new catalog would be a modern Author/Title/Subject that related logically to the shelf arrangement.[13] One would be able to find a book without learning how the catalog works. Miss Elizabeth Welton was hired to help with the monotonous details of cataloging and Henry was in love. In the summer of 1890, Ina writes that Henry was put in charge of cleaning (during one month closure), “because Bessie would be there.”[14] The library would reopen with flowers on all the tables. Henry also had influence as assistant secretary of the board. Before meetings he would ready a stack of cigars and perform magic tricks while awaiting the arrival of members.[15] Ina writes that Henry was spending money on “useless purposes.”[16] The inevitable technical problems occurred with the catalog, and it was later reported that Miss Welton was insolent with Ina.[17] Miss Welton left the library and Henry left Ina’s house. They were married in December with a child born 9 months later. At the beginning of the trouble Ina wrote that, “The only way for peace & quiet with Henry is to give up absolutely, everything at home, and in the Library, into his hands.”[18] Henry got a raise earning as much as Ina and the two were apparently reconciled, at least on the surface, until Ina’s dismissal a year later.
During this eventful year, Henry started his library scrapbook. While Ina’s scrapbook is filled with poems, invitations, and library clippings, Henry’s shows an interest in library developments across the nation.[19] In 1891, the A.L.A. held its first conference in the West. This would be the first A.L.A conference attended by women. While librarians discussed the formation of the California Library Association, Ina’s contribution of a poem probably did little to further the professional status of women present. The following year, Miss Kelso of the Los Angles Public Library made an attempt at forming a Women’s section of the A.L.A. but there seems to be no correspondence between her and Ina. It would seem Ina was content with her position as cultural icon, but she would soon be forced to change.
Josephine Rhodehamel, Oakland librarian and biographer of Ina Coolbrith, interprets her dismissal as a political issue. She claims that Ina complained publically about a lack of funds and the condition of the library building, and this embarrassed the City Council. The Council then pressured a board that was less than “cultured,” to have her removed. She further absolves Henry from any responsibility except not coming to Ina’s defense.[20] While this is a plausible explanation, there is more to the story. On the first of September 1892, Henry left for Pleasanton on one months leave. It is quite possible that he had left the board with a thirty-day ultimatum, and this may be the reason for the board giving Ina only three days notice. Someone wanted Ina gone when Henry returned. If Henry was not a force in Ina’s dismissal, he personified the national trend toward professionalism that placed Ina at risk.
The press, sensing something was up, sent a reporter to the library on September 4. Mrs. Rhodehamel prints Ina’s interview in her notes as evidence for her argument. The interview is very critical of the City Council. She cites the poor condition of the building and the collection. The council’s cuts would mean no fund for a new building and leave only enough for running expenses.[21] This interview however, must be seen in context. Such a response to budget cutbacks would be expected from the librarian, male or female. The need for a new building was painfully evident. Over the previous ten years, both Ina and Henry had testified numerous times to this fact. When the A.L.A. visited, they had to go upstairs in shifts to prevent the building from shaking.[22] City Councilman Wilkins, the leader of the cuts, wanted nothing to do with the issue of Ina’s dismissal. He claimed to have proof that the decision to fire Ina was made before the budget cuts, and he suggested the board take responsibility for its own decisions.[23]
Dr. Peter Comny, another Oakland librarian and author of the first work on Ina’s dismissal, emphasizes the character of the Board of Free Library Trustees. The board was made up of two doctors, a drug store owner, merchant tailor, and insurance agent. While they lacked a literary background, they were respected citizens and had the interests of the library at heart. This was not a board like Trefethen’s. The New Charter of Oakland had created a more responsible city government. However, the board was divided ideologically over the purpose of the library. From the beginning, the library had operated a group of small neighborhood reading rooms. The library itself had started as a reading room and its ground floor became the Central Reading Room. The reading rooms were stocked with more magazines and periodicals then the modern branch library, including newspapers from virtually every state and the standard English publications.[24] There were branches in West and East Oakland with later branches in North Oakland and 23rd Ave. These later branches were a source of conflict, especially the room at 23rd Ave. and [E.] 14th St., the heart of “Jingletown.”
In 1884, the largest cotton mill west of Chicago was built in East Oakland, blocks from 23rd Ave. The area developed early, before Fruit Vale, and after the area immediately east of the lake. It was a multi-ethnic neighborhood with a large Portuguese population connected with the whaling industry. The workers at the cotton mill were largely Portuguese and Catholic, including many women. Modern accounts describe immigrants with their newfound wealth, jingling money in their pockets on the way home from work. Actually, the “jingle” in Jingletown came from men loitering along 23rd Ave. as a sign they were looking for “action.” Until the 1990’s, 23rd Ave was labeled “a problem” because of its saloons and bars. Superintendent Rutherford of the cotton mill, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, and local business interests founded the 23rd Ave Reading Room to supplant a notorious saloon and related establishment. It was also created in response to perceived anti-Catholic sentiment due to an incident concerning the East Oakland Reading Room.
Miss Bromley, the curator of the East Oakland Reading Room was engaged in a dispute over her job. She responded by going to Superintendent Rutherford and other community leaders hoping to block the appointment of a certain woman on the grounds that she was a Catholic. She defended her action to the board stating she “merely thought [they] would want a Protestant.” At this point the board member who requested her replacement resigned saying, “my class of people can hold no office and have no rights.”[25] Dr. Samuel H. Melvyn, who owned the pharmacy at 23rd Ave. and E.14th St, replaced him. Immediately after his appointment, a book dealer symbolically donated bibles hoping the board members would accept them, as a certain curator would not. Dr. Melvyn was a religious man and strongly anti-rum. He wanted a reading room and said the neighborhood would contribute the rent and furnishings. An ice cream parlor was later opened to support the room. Henry too, was in support of the reading room that opened in July of 1890.
Oakland was beginning to divide along cultural, class, and religious lines and this was reflected in the Board of Free Library Trustees. The doctors on the board represented the two factions. Dr. Melvyn represented the working class and immigrant population in outlying East and North Oakland while Dr. Rabe led the “Athens of the Pacific” crowd. Dr. Rabe wanted a library Oakland could be proud of and he wanted to close all the reading rooms to help fund a new building. He also preferred the removal of religious material. Dr. Rabe seems to have realized the library was the victim of circular reasoning. The library had gotten along on such meager funding, each new city council thought it could continue a while longer. His strategy of closing the reading rooms was meant to bully the council into increasing the tax levy and they knew it. The board was divided, as was the town. Ina thought the reading rooms should remain, but the library should come first. Henry seems to have been silent on the subject possibly due to his friendship with Dr. Melvyn. Contemporary newspaper accounts made it clear Dr. Rabe was the leader but when the working class of North Oakland threatened to burn “someone” in effigy, it was probably Ina that symbolized the threat to their reading rooms.[26] The conflict came to the boiling point with the firing of Mrs. Bliss, Curator of the 23rd Ave. Reading Room.
Accounts of the incident are contradictory, but it would seem that Mrs. Bliss insulted some men of greater influence than Dr. Melvyn. These men required the relocation of the reading room for construction of their new building. When Mrs. Bliss questioned their authority to do this, they requested her removal. Mrs. Bliss was fired with no chance to defend herself. Many were outraged, committees were formed and petitions raised, but Dr. Melvyn was defeated 3-2. One can see why the Doctor would begin to move against Ina’s position, but this does not explain the unanimity of the board’s decision to have her dismissed. The explanation may lie in a letter, not mentioned by Mrs. Rhodehamel, from Ina to her niece. Written after the earthquake, it requests letters that could be used as proof against scandal such as was threatened “in ‘85.”[27] Dr. Melvyn happened to be a member of the board in 1885. Given the current tensions, a scandal, even a disprovable one, would not be defensible. Ina handed in her resignation under protest. The board accepted it without comment then proceeded to close the reading rooms. The public was in an outrage but not over Ina. Henry took his position as librarian and crossed out the headline “UNEASY,” referring to the library situation, in his scrapbook.[28]
Henry went to work transforming the library. He lowered the admittance age from14 to 12. He opened the stacks, created a catalog of new books, and opened on Sundays and holidays. Circulation increased from three thousand to thirteen thousand. Praised for his “many management improvements,” he also began a system of district delivery.[29] It would appear that this is more a case for the need of “new blood” than for the tenure of head librarians. Clearly, Ina Coolbrith was dismissed through no fault of her own. Among the varied and vague reasons given for her dismissal, one trustee was reported as saying, “We need a librarian not a poet.”[30] As blunt as this sounded, it probably represented the simple truth. Ina Coolbrith was the victim of the development of librarianship as a profession and the changing concept of the role of libraries in a diversifying society. Ina despised Oakland and its people the rest of her life.[31] The terms, “Athens of the Pacific,” along with “Jingletown” fell into disuse. Ironically, the branch library eventually built at 23rd Ave. was named after Ina; typically it closed for want of funding.
[1] Josephine DeWitt Rhodehamel. Ina Coolbrith: Librarian and Laureate of California (Provo; B.Y.U., 1973).
[2] Peter Thomas Conmy. The Dismissal of Ina Coolbrith (Oakland; Oakland Public Library, 1969).
[3] California Historical Society. 13:354.
[4] Rhodehamel 73.
[5] Dee Garrison. Apostles of Culture (New York; The Free Press, 1979) 179.
[6] San Francisco Daily Evening Star, 12 Apr. 1884.
[7] Letter from Ina Coolbrith to the librarian of the Chicago Public Library. 1881.
[8] Minutes of the Board, 4 Dec. 1883.
[9] Minutes of the Board, 10 Sept. 1884.
[10] Minutes of the Board, 7 Apr.1885
[11] Letter from Ina Coolbrith to Henry Peterson, 28 Sept. 1884. Coolbrith Papers in Bancroft Library.
[12] Garrison 125.
[13] Oakland Enquirer, 3 Jul. 1889.
[14] Letter from Ina Coolbrith to her niece, Ina Peterson, 10 Jun. 1890. Coolbrith Papers in Bancroft Library.
[15] Oakland Times, 3 Sept. 1890.
[16] Letter from Ina Coolbrith to her Niece, Ina Peterson, 25 Feb. 1890. Coolbrith Papers in Bancroft Library.
[17] The Alameda Argus, 29 Sept. 1892.
[18] Letter from Ina Coolbrith to her niece, Ina Coolbrith, 25 Feb. 1890. Coolbrith Papers in Bancroft Library.
[19] Ina Coolbrith Scrapbook and Henry Peterson Scrapbook, in Oakland Public Library.
[20] Rhodehamel Ch. 20.
[21] Ibid 433.
[22] Henry Peterson Scrapbook, 9 Aug. 1893, 79.
[23] Oakland Enquirer, 19 Oct. 1892.
[24] Oakland Enquirer, 3 Jul. 1889.
[25] Oakland Enquirer, 4 Sept. 1889.
[26] Oakland Enquirer, 1 Dec. 1891.
[27] Letter from Ina Coolbrith to her niece, Ina Peterson, 2 Nov. 1906, Coolbrith Papers in Bancroft Library.
[28] Henry Peterson Scrapbook, 97.
[29] Minutes of the Board, 1892-1899.
[30] San Francisco Examiner, 27 Nov. 1892.
[31] Letter from Ina Coolbrith to Gertrude Atherton. 25 Mar. 1899. Coolbrith Papers in Bancroft Library.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Conmy, Peter Thomas. The Dismissal of Ina Coolbrith as Head Librarian of Oakland
Free Public Library and a Discussion of the Tenure Status of Head Librarians.
Oakland: Oakland Public Library, 1969.
Coolbrith, Ina. Comp. Ina Coolbrith Papers. in Bancroft Library.
---. Comp. Scrapbooks. 2 vols. in Oakland Public Library.
Garrison, Dee. Apostles of Culture: The Public Librarian and American Society, 1876-
1920. New York: The Free Press, 1979.
Hinkel, Edgar J. Oakland 1852-1938. Vol. 2. Oakland: Works Progress Administration,
1940.
Oakland Free Library. Minutes of the Board of Free Library Trustees. 2vols. Manuscript.
Oakland: Oakland Public Library.
Peterson, Henry. Comp. Scrapbooks. 2 vols. in Oakland Public Library.
Rhodehamel, Josephine DeWitt and Raymund Francis Wood. Ina Coolbrith: Librarian
and Laureate of California. Provo, Utah: Brigham University Press, 1973.