from
The Dallas Morning News, April 18, 2010
The circulation desk of Dallas' first public library opened to borrowers on Oct. 29, 1901.
Strong women play big part in shaping history of Dallas Public Library
By MICHAEL V. HAZEL/Special contributor
As librarian Cleora Clanton frequently pointed out in the 1930s, "Probably no institution in the city touches the lives of the citizens at more points than the public library."
(Texas/Dallas History & Archives Division, Dallas Public Library)
Clanton, who headed Dallas' library system from 1922 to 1954, defending it from budget cuts during the Great Depression and from right-wing political attacks early in the McCarthy era, is one of the library's many unsung heroines. Women, ranging from prominent civic leaders to underpaid librarians, have sustained the Dallas Public Library for more than 100 years.
The tradition began with May Dickson Exall, who organized the Dallas Federation of Women's Clubs in 1898 with the express purpose of securing a public library for Dallas.
The city had ranked as the largest in Texas in the 1890 census, having grown rapidly into a regional merchandising and manufacturing center. But civic leaders recognized that Dallas needed intellectual as well as economic resources if it was to compete on a national scale.
Campaign begins
And it lacked one asset that was coming to be viewed as essential: a free public library. Under Exall's leadership, women took up the challenge, and the campaign launched by the Federation of Women's Clubs soon resulted in formation of the Dallas Public Library Association.
With spirited publicity in The Dallas Morning News organized by Isadore Miner, its women's editor and author of a weekly column signed "Pauline Periwinkle," this group quickly raised $6,000 and secured a commitment of property and funding from the city. Col.onel A.H. Belo, publisher of The News, helped launch the fund drive with a $1,000 donation.
Exall, the association's president, then wrote to Andrew Carnegie, the steel magnate who had begun distributing his fortune to construct libraries throughout the nation. In her letter, Exall shrewdly reminded Carnegie that he had just granted $50,000 to neighboring Fort Worth, "a town about half the size of Dallas."
A month later, Carnegie responded, "Surely I shall do for Dallas what I did for Fort Worth," agreeing to provide $50,000 if the city would increase its annual fiscal commitment from $2,000 to $4,000, which he felt was more realistic for a city the size of Dallas.
The library association hired Rosa Leeper as the first librarian, and Col. Belo was among civic leaders who donated funds to purchase books. The building committee monitored expenses so closely that total construction costs came to $50,097, only $97 over the amount donated by Carnegie. This had to be one of the lowest cost overruns on a municipal project in the city's history.
The new Dallas Public Library opened at the southwest corner of Commerce and Harwood streets to great celebration on Oct. 29, 1901. During the first 10 weeks, nearly 3,000 people obtained library cards, and more than 15,000 books were checked out.
The children's collection attracted especially heavy use, as school principals sent classes to the library, and teachers presented lectures on art and music in the children's room. A tradition of heavy use, straining available resources, had begun.
By the 1920s, the central library building was seriously overcrowded, and it was deteriorating. But tax dollars never seemed available, and a bond proposal was shelved with the advent of the Great Depression. Not until the early 1950s, with strong support from the new Friends of the Dallas Public Library, was the old Carnegie structure torn down and a modern building constructed in its place. Within 25 years, it, too, had become obsolete.
No book bans
But beginning in 1961, the library system was led by another in the line of tireless heroines, Lillian Moore Bradshaw. Like Clanton before her, she was a staunch defender of intellectual freedom.
When a right-wing councilman tried to ban books, she told her husband, "I am going to fight this. I do not believe that an adult should be made to read on a child's level." With support from the rest of the City Council, she won the fight.
Lillian Bradshaw fought off a ban. George Schrader, who was city manager during Bradshaw's first nine years as library director, described her as "a take-charge director who would not be denied. Lillian could have run the Fire Department, the Police Department, or any other department." It was under her administration that the third — and current — J. Erik Jonsson Central Library was constructed across from City Hall in 1982. And, of equally great significance, branch libraries were built throughout the city; today they number 25.
The library's current director, Laurie Evans, has overseen remodeling of the Central Library and the opening of an imaginative children's library at NorthPark Center, one of the first in the nation.
As the Dallas Public Library adapts to meet the needs of a changing audience, its use is heavier than ever. The total number of materials circulated and used in the library last year was nearly 11 million. Clearly, the tradition continues.
Michael V. Hazel is author of The Dallas Public Library: Celebrating a Century of Service 1901-2001, among other books on Dallas history.
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