Dorothea Dudley Nelson (August 23, 1903 – November 17, 1994) was an American librarian. She was director of the Carnegie Library in Santa Maria, California for 34 years, and was inducted into the

California Library Hall of Fame California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the mo ...

in 2019.

Early life and education

Dorothea Dudley was born in

Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

, the daughter of Charles Henry Dudley and Fannie May Holroyd Dudley. Her father was a lawyer. She earned a degree in French and history, and trained as a librarian, at the University of California, Berkeley."Dorothea Nelson"
California Library Hall of Fame, 2019 Inductees.

Career

As a young woman, Dudley worked in her father's law office, and taught music at the Colorado State Institute for the Blind and Deaf. From 1934 to 1968, she was director of the Carnegie Library in Santa Maria, California. During her tenure the Santa Maria library built a new location in 1941, and expanded its buildings twice. "Every time we put on an addition, it seemed more crowded than before," she recalled. She was also active in improving library services in nearby communities, including Cuyama, Guadalupe,

Orcutt Orcutt is an unincorporated town and census-designated place located in the Santa Maria Valley in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Orcutt is named for William Warren Orcutt, the manager of the Geological, Land and Engineering Dep ...

, and Los Alamos. She was a member of the California Library Association and president of the association's Black Gold district. Nelson was president of the Minerva Club of Santa Maria from 1944 to 1945, and president of the

Soroptimist Club Soroptimist International (SI) is a global volunteer service organization for women with nearly 72,000 members in 121 countries worldwide. According to Soroptimist.org, their mission statement says that, "Soroptimist is a global volunteer organiza ...

in 1956. She was chair of the board of directors for the local

American Red Cross The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the desi ...

chapter from 1954 to 1956, and she was elected president of the Santa Maria Valley Historical Society in 1968. She also taught dance classes and supported the local Camp Fire Girls program. In 1970, she was named Citizen of the Year by the Santa Maria Chamber of Commerce.

Personal life

Dorothea Dudley married Paul Lancourt Nelson, a city official and swim coach in Santa Maria. They had a daughter, Diana. Her husband died in 1952, and she died in 1994, at her daughter's home in Fort Worth, Texas. A library conference room was named in her honor. She was inducted into the California Library Hall of Fame in 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Dorothea 1903 births 1994 deaths People from Colorado Springs, Colorado People from Santa Maria, California American librarians University of California, Berkeley alumni