her, Elizabeth decided to move from Ireland to California, on her own with six children.
A huge trip such as this was a brave undertaking for a Victorian widow. Elizabeth sold the medical practice in Dublin and borrowed some money from relatives. In 1891 after booking “saloon passage” [first class] on a ship, she traveled with her children from Liverpool, England to New York, and then by train to California. The family settled into a house her brother built for them, next door to his own in the hills of Oakland.
Anne was seventeen when they arrived in California, and was required to attend a few years of high school. When she graduated in 1894, she worked as a secretary and studied at the University of California in Berkeley.
The Move to Palo Alto
In the mid 1890’s, her mother heard about the free education available at Stanford University in Palo Alto. In another brave move, Elizabeth relocated the family to Palo Alto in 1897, so all of her children could attend Stanford. Today Stanford is a very expensive private university, but when it was founded by Leland Stanford, it was very well-endowed and free to students. Unusual for the times, girls were encouraged to attend.
Anne and her siblings benefited greatly from the marvelous education available. At the time David Hadden, Anne’s brother and my grandfather, had graduated from U.C. Berkeley and was attending Cooper Medical School in San Francisco (later connected to Stanford). He became a successful doctor in Berkeley, California. Anne’s sister Elizabeth became a librarian in Palo Alto; her sister Evelyn spent her career in India as a Methodist missionary. Another sister Ellen was a tapestry artist who designed machine stitched handiwork, very much ahead of her time. Ellen’s work was exhibited at the 1939 World’s Fair, and in 1940 she was recognized in Who’sWho in American Art.
Most women in this era needed to choose between a career and marriage. Married women generally did not work outside the home. For women who chose careers, the jobs available were mostly those where the skills were learned in the home. Anne and her four sisters all chose to be educated and to remain single, “to paddle their own canoes.” Their mother was a strong role model for them, and the death of their father and subsequent immigration to America brought them together as a family with bonds that lasted for the rest of their lives.
Unfortunately their mother, Elizabeth Hadden, passed away in 1905 after only a few years in Palo Alto. Thereafter Anne, being the oldest, helped to support and raise her younger siblings.
As we shall see, most of Anne’s social contacts during her lifelong career arose out of her connections to her family and her work. Only her brother, Dr. David Hadden, married and had children. Lifelong close connections to her sisters and to her brother, and his family, were most important to Anne. As one of her great-nieces, I have fond memories of the “aunties” when they visited our family in Berkeley. Anne also met many of her friends through her library work, people who remained her friends during her entire lifetime.
Anne started working in the Palo Alto Library, when she was studying at Stanford University. In 1901 Anne became Palo Alto’s first city librarian when the new Carnegie Library opened. She held the position for ten years. This experience in library work would help prepare her for the challenges facing her in the newly created job of providing all residents in the large county of Monterey with library service.
Anne was tall, athletic, and strong. These physical characteristics, along with her love of nature and natural surroundings, aided her greatly in the challenges ahead. In addition, her friendliness, patience, and spiritual interests contributed to her enjoyment of the life she would find in her new position.
Anne possessed a remarkable spirit of adventure and the intellect necessary for great success as a pioneer county librarian.
The adventuresome job went to the adventurer!
The Hadden Family, Dublin Ireland abt. 1889. Anne, seated at center top.
The Hadden Family coming to America in 1891.
The Salinas Carnegie Library
Postcard to Family, June 1913
Establishment of the Monterey County Free Libraries, August 6, 1912
Appointment of the first Librarian, July 21, 1913
Application to the Board of Library Examiners
Before Anne Hadden applied for the job in Monterey County, she had already left her job as head librarian in Palo Alto for a position working at the California state library in Sacramento. In 1911 she had begun looking for new challenges to use her talents and no doubt thought the formation of new county libraries could provide her with opportunities. While in the state library job, she had participated in a major project in Bakersfield, California, establishing the new Kern County Free Libraries. This assignment was challenging, educational, and introduced her to county library work.
In Sacramento she worked for State Librarian James Gillis, and as we shall see, he was the “father” of the new California County Library movement. He suggested to Anne that she think about applying for a County Library Certificate and sit for the examination required for the job as a county librarian. On September 30, 1911, Anne completed her application. Because she was busy working on library projects as well as studying the new county library regulations, it wasn’t until October 11, 1912 that she took the examination.
The examination was a set of five essay questions pertaining to the job of being a county librarian. Both the philosophy and the pragmatics of establishing and maintaining a county library were addressed in the questions.
The first essay question asked was about the “steps you would take to put the county free library into operation.” Anne wrote six steps. Most important were her ideas of studying the conditions in the county and consulting with “people identified with the chief interests of the county. Make a personal pilgrimage, and win as many friends for the movement as possible.” After deciding upon the location of the library, and “keeping in mind the size of the appropriation and the needs and interests of the people,” she would order books and arrange for help. Anne clearly had spent much time thinking about the processes involved in establishing the new library. Her experiences in Bakersfield contributed greatly to her knowledge.
Another question was about the relation of the California state library to a county librarian. Because she worked for the library in Sacramento, she knew about the need for cooperation between the local librarians and the state library. Anne wrote:
…I would ask assistance along any line where need arose which could not be met by the County Library. Should ask, not alone for books, but for information and advice, for I know how free and willingly such help is given, and I should stand ready to render to the State Library such assistance and cooperation as it may call for to render the Library system in California a unit for service to the State.
The last question concerned ideas regarding the cooperation in County Free Library work. She wrote: “I believe in the fullest cooperation with all movements and institutions which have been instigated and established for the public good.” We only learn in