Laura Steffens Suggett (June 18, 1874 – February 6, 1946) was an American librarian. She was inducted into the California Library Hall of Fame in 2020.
Laura Steffens Suggett | |
|---|---|
 Laura Steffens Suggett, an undated portrait, from a 2009 publication | |
| Born | Laura Steffens June 18, 1874 Sacramento, California |
| Died | February 6, 1946 (aged 71) California |
| Occupation | Librarian |
| Relatives | Lincoln Steffens (brother) |
Early life and education
editLaura Steffens was born in Sacramento, California, the daughter of Joseph Steffens and Elizabeth Louisa Symes Steffens. Her father was a prominent banker, born in Canada; her mother was born in England.[1] Her brother was writer Lincoln Steffens.[2] The Steffens home in Sacramento, where she lived as a teenager, became the California governor's mansion in 1903. She graduated from Stanford University in 1896.[3][4] with further studies in Leipzig.[5]
Career
editThe California State Library appointed Steffens as chief of the state library's extension service in 1903, and she was tasked with creating a traveling library for rural Californians. She founded and edited the journal News Notes of California Libraries. She moved to San Francisco in 1917 to run the Sutro Library there.[6][7] She chaired the Conditions of Librarians Committee of the California Library Association.[8] She proposed a "morgue for dead manuscripts", offering to house two copies of authors' works: the manuscript they produced, and the published edition, as an "invaluable historical record".[9] She left the Sutro in 1923.[6]
Suggett published The Beginning and the End of the Best Library Service in the World (1924), a "melodramatic account"[10] of her work with the State Library Extension Service,[11][12] and The California Library Service (1925).[13][14] Upton Sinclair promoted her 1924 book in his newspaper column, saying "Mrs. Suggett's book gives the details of this plan, and you see what a beautiful and loving and generous and civilized thing it was."[15]
Personal life
editIn 1909, Steffens made news when she injured her eye in a "novel" pencil-sharpening accident at the library.[16] In 1918,[17] Laura Steffens married dentist and college professor Allen Holman Suggett, her sister's widower.[3][18] She "suffered a mental breakdown" in the early 1930s, and saw Carl Jung in Zürich for treatment.[19] She died in 1946, aged 71. In 2020, she was inducted into the California Library Hall of Fame.[8]
References
edit- ^ "Mother of Author Called by Death". San Francisco Call. August 16, 1910. p. 1. Retrieved March 24, 2022 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
- ^ "Steffens Will Divides $150,000 Among Family". San Francisco Call. February 8, 1912. p. 5. Retrieved March 24, 2022 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
- ^ a b Karman, James (2011-10-12). The Collected Letters of Robinson Jeffers, with Selected Letters of Una Jeffers: Volume Two, 1931–1939. Stanford University Press. pp. note 4. ISBN 978-0-8047-8172-5.
- ^ "Sacramento Students". Sacramento Daily Union. May 26, 1896. p. 4. Retrieved March 24, 2022 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
- ^ "Personal mention". Sacramento Daily Union. p. 4. Retrieved March 24, 2022 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
- ^ a b "About Adolph Sutro" California State Library.
- ^ "Girl Library Head". San Francisco Call. December 28, 1916. p. 1. Retrieved March 24, 2022 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
- ^ a b "Laura Steffens Suggett" California Library Hall of Fame.
- ^ "A Morgue for Dead Manuscripts". The Unpopular Review. 11: 433–434. January–June 1919.
- ^ Buckland, Michael K. (2020-11-13). Ideology and Libraries: California, Diplomacy, and Occupied Japan, 1945–1952. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 24. ISBN 978-1-5381-4315-5.
- ^ Suggett, Laura Steffens (1924). The Beginning and the End of the Best Library Service in the World. Francisco publishing Company.
- ^ Hudson, Irene (1933-11-10). "Cooperative Library Service". The St. Helena Star. p. 7. Retrieved 2022-03-24 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Suggett, Laura Steffens (1925). The California Library Plan. Francisco Publishing Company.
- ^ "Wanted! More Free Libraries". Arizona Republic. 1925-03-22. p. 6. Retrieved 2022-03-24 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Sinclair, Upton (1924-04-06). "To Help People, Especially Children, Read Worth-while Books, is One of Most Important Services that can be Performed". Fort Worth Record-Telegram. p. 43. Retrieved 2022-03-24 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Novel Accident May Disfigure for Life". San Francisco Call. March 31, 1909. p. 9. Retrieved March 24, 2022 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
- ^ "Staff News Items". News Notes of California Libraries. 13: 407. July 1918.
- ^ "Marriage announcement (untitled item)". The Sacramento Bee. 1918-05-08. p. 4. Retrieved 2022-03-24 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Wheelwright, Betty Coon (2009-01-01). "The Road to Zürich". Jung Journal. 3 (1): 10–38. doi:10.1525/jung.2009.3.1.10. ISSN 1934-2039. S2CID 152315774.