The San Francisco Mercantile Library Association (est. 1852) was a

civic group Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, to "stimulate a generous rivalry in mental

culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Tyl ...

, by rendering it the fashion to read and converse on literary topics." Its founders J.B. Crockett, F.A. Woodworth, and F.C. Ewer aspired to "make our infant city as distinguished for literature and science as it already is for its commerce and wealth." By 1854 the group had collected for its

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

some 3,000 volumes. The library grew to 14,000 volumes by 1861, and to 36,000 by 1874. Holdings included travel writing, essays, plays, California history, American history, and literature by

Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for '' The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...

, Shakespeare, and

Sainte-Beuve Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve (; 23 December 1804 – 13 October 1869) was a French literary critic. Early life He was born in Boulogne, educated there, and studied medicine at the Collège Charlemagne in Paris (1824–27). In 1828, he se ...

. In 1906 the association merged into the

San Francisco Mechanics' Institute The Mechanics' Institute is a historic membership library, cultural event center, and chess club at 57 Post Street, San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1854, as a mechanics' institute, an educational and cultural institution, to serve the ...

. Later the same year an

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

disaster ruined the combined collections. The Institute constructed a new Mechanics'-Mercantile Library building in 1910.

References

External links

* University of California, Berkeley. Bancroft Library
Mercantile Library Association of San Francisco records, 1850-1894
{{Authority control 1852 establishments in California 1906 disestablishments in California Libraries established in 1852 Libraries disestablished in 1906 Defunct clubs and societies of the United States Libraries in San Francisco Defunct libraries History of San Francisco

References

Further reading

External links