The Public Library

“The Public Library presents a wide selection of Dawson's photographs— from the majestic reading room at the New York Public Library to Allensworth, California's one-room Tulare County Free Library built by former slaves.”

The above quote is from the Amazon description of Robert Dawson’s new book The Public Library: A Photographic Essay. The library at Allensworth is one of the many libraries Dawson photographed over the last eighteen years. The little wooden one-room building began life as the town’s first schoolhouse. Thanks to the Allensworth family, after the town’s new two-room schoolhouse opened in 1913, the building was reincarnated as the Mary Dickerson Memorial Library. Named in honor of Ms. Allensworth’s mother, it became the first branch of the Tulare County Free Library.

In the book’s introduction Dawson writes about the influence books and libraries had on Oprah Winfrey, Malcolm X, and others.

"For me, those dreams started when I heard the stories of my rich heritage. When I read about Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman and Mary McLeod Bethune and Frederick Douglass, I knew that there was possibility for me." (Oprah Winfrey)

"My alma mater was books, a good library. I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity." (Malcolm X)

Over the years the mission of libraries has changed from simply a place to borrow books or read a newspaper, to a place for free internet access, job-hunting assistance, or shelter from adverse weather. In her essay Ms. Dorothy Lazard of the Oakland Public Library talks about the role of today's librarians:

"We know we are hopelessly unqualified to treat what ails many of the people who pass through our doors… There is deterioration all around us, yet we carry on, providing service to the underserved, a patient ear to the unheard. We are acting as the last outposts of community space."

There is an excerpt of The Public Library on NPR, which covers how Dawson began the project and the extended road trips he took with his son Walker.

Dawson feels that “In a culture that is increasingly privatized, libraries are among the last free spaces we have left. Public libraries are worth fighting for, and this book is my way of fighting.”

Mrs. Sarah Hindsman became custodian of the Allensworth library’s collection in 1926.  The books were moved from the library in 1931 and shelved in the northeast corner of the Hindsman store, until the library branch closed in 1943.

Allensworth Library part of San Francisco Exhibition

The Allensworth (Tulare County Free) Library is one of the libraries featured in the Public Library: An American Commons exhibition at the San Francisco Public Library’s Jewett Gallery, April 9 – June 12, 2011. The exhibition is part of photographer- Robert Dawson’s The American Public Library project, a photographic and historical survey of public libraries throughout the United States. Since 1994, he has traveled to sixteen states photographing public libraries and eventually will publish a large-scale. His photographs are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the National Museum of American Art, and the Library of Congress.

The array of approximately seventy black and white and color photographs included in the exhibition covers the full spectrum of American libraries. Large metropolis libraries like the Boston, Massachusetts Main Library, the New York City Carnegie Library, and the African American History Museum and Library in Oakland, California. Architectural masterpieces like the Frank Lloyd Wright designed library in San Rafael, California to the Death Valley National Park Library located in a small weathered trailer. And historic libraries like California’s oldest public library in Redlands, California and the Tulare County Free Public Library at Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park.

The Tulare County Library was established when the Colonel’s wife Mrs. Josephine Allensworth had the old one room school house moved to a town lot that she donated. The library’s official name was the Allensworth branch of the Tulare County Free Library, but to the residents of Allensworth it was known as the Mary Dickerson Memorial Library in honor of Mrs. Allensworth’s mother.

The small humble library, heated by a wood burning stove and lit by oil lamps, had the required table, two chairs and enough shelves to hold 1,000 books. The library’s collection began with donated books from Colonel Allensworth’s and other private collections and rapidity expanded with each allotment of new books shipped from the county.

The Mary Dickerson Memorial Library operated continuously in this building from 1913 until 1943.

Accompanying events include:
May 7, 6 pm
Gallery Walkthrough with Photographer Robert Dawson
Photographer Robert Dawson and photo curator/historian, Ellen Manchester, will lead an informal tour and discussion of Dawson’s photographs in the exhibition.

May 14, 3 pm
From Carnegie to Koolhaas: Robert Dawson’s photographs of Public Libraries: An artist talk with Robert Dawson

May 18, 6 pm
Carnegie to Contemporary: Building San Francisco Public Libraries
Panel discussion of San Francisco architects on the architecture and design of San Francisco branch libraries.

Stephen Hill, Sr.

Mary Dickerson Memorial Library

The Mary Dickerson Memorial Library is the latest video on the Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park’s new YouTube Channel. The other videos are The Hackett House, The Drug Store, and Colonel Allensworth visits the Schoolhouse. You can view all of the Allensworth videos on YouTube.

Built in 1913, the Mary Dickerson Memorial Library was the first satellite library in Tulare County. The video shows the inside of the library to include books like Battles and Victories of Allen Allensworth, and a 1908 Sears, Roebuck & Co. catalog.

Stephen Hill, Sr.