By Tracey Davis & Mary Swift-Swan

The Anne T. Kent California Room, as part of the Marin Civic Center Free Library, was created in the Fall of 2001 from a collection kept in the San Rafael courthouse basement. The California Room is named after Anne T. Kent, for her many contributions beginning in the 1920s. Anne was instrumental in establishing the Marin County Free Library System. In 1974, working with Carla Ehat, she pioneered an ongoing oral history program, a mainstay of the California Room. In addition, many Kent family photo albums were donated and Anne encouraged others to do the same. The Anne T. Kent California Room provides a fascinating view of Marin from its earliest days. Access has been limited to the Civic Center branch. Now, however, due to the new technology of digitizing, more people will be able to view this wonderful collection.

The Digital Archive was initiated by California Room librarian Laurie Thompson. The materials in the California Room must be viewed with gloves on. No food or pens are allowed in the room. Nothing can be checked out or sent to any other branch. Laurie wanted to share the Anne T. Kent California Room’s rich repository of photographs, oral histories, and ephemera with researchers and patrons everywhere. There are 300 fascinating oral history interviews drawn from the recollections of Marin’s elder population, some of whom were born as early as 1875. Library Webmaster Sarah Houghton helped Laurie digitize key selections. By digitizing this material, anyone able to use the Web can now access interesting excerpts of audio taped oral histories, view portions of the most popular photo collections, see historic maps, and even listen to the voice of Frank Lloyd Wright. If your interest is peaked, visit the Anne T. Kent California Room at the Marin Civic Center Library in person to see and hear more. To begin a journey into the rich, personalized history of Marin and California, start with www.co.marin.ca.us/depts/lb/main/crm/kentmain.html.

Here’s a sample of what is available on the Web from the Anne T. Kent California Room’s Photograph Albums: the Camp Taylor Photograph Album depicting friends on holiday camping in suits and dresses of the time at Camp Taylor in 1889; the Frank Lloyd Wright/Marin County Civic Center Photograph Album documenting the construction of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Marin County Civic Center; the Golden Gate Bridge Album, a series of photographs documenting the construction and completion of the Golden Gate Bridge; the Howitt Family Photograph Album depicting Marin, and particularly San Rafael, in 1913 and 1914; and the San Quentin Photograph Album from 1910-1915 , when the wardens were reformists and women were also inmates. The Civic Center in Marin was one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s last projects. He conceived his vision of the Center and Fairgrounds when he saw the property, which had been donated to Marin County for the Center in 1957. A year later, he presented the full plan, model, and all the buildings detailed. Excerpts from the Q&A session during his presentation at a meeting open to the public has been digitized and is available on the site listed in this article. Sadly, Frank died in 1959 before the Center was finished.

His original concept was for the roof of the Marin Civic Center to be gold. After his death, when a gold paint or product able to hold up for the life of the building could not be found, the roof color was changed to blue. It is interesting to hear this renowned architect speak about the architecture, the building, and the materials he wanted to use for his design, with the intent that these buildings last many, many years.

Marin has two library groups. There are 11 Marin County Free Libraries and 6 fee- based public libraries. Carol Starr is the director for the Marin Free Libraries. The operating budget of the last few years has been $9 million for the 11 Libraries and web services to staff, maintain facilities, and provide youth and adult programs, plus support services including the Bookmobile, Literacy project, and Library without Walls where books and books-on-tape are delivered to home-bound individuals. Marin Free Library has revenues, but they have been consistently half a million dollars short of matching their budget needs, causing repeated dips into the Marin Library reserves. Contributions make projects like digitizing the California Room possible.