Nevada City Historical Library
he Doris Foley Historical Research Library Credit for article and thanks to: Erika ChristiansenNevada City has a literary “Gold Mine” housed right in its historical district. The Doris Foley Historical Research Library is the current name of a beautiful old Carnegie Library which will be celebrating its 100th Birthday in 2007.
Originally, it was the Nevada City Library or Nevada City Free Public Library. On May 17, 1997 it was named after Doris Foley, a local teacher, historian and writer.
The Doris Foley Library for Historical Research, is currently under the care of the Nevada County Library System, and is commonly and fondly referred to, among the librarians as the “History Branch”. It is located at 211 N. Pine St. Nevada City, CA 95959.
Above the front door there is a big sign that says, “Public Library”, on the right side of the door, there is a plaque that says, Nevada City Library, then on the glass of the front doors it says, “Doris Foley Library for Historical Research.” On the left side of the front door there is another plaque that says, “Nevada City Public Library”, which was dedicated on Oct. 4th of 1907. The interior of the library has changed very little from its original layout. The beautiful stained glass window with the lamp of knowledge, was repaired in 1978 after an attack of vandalism.
If you wish to visit this historical library you will find volumes
of biographies of local dignitaries from the very beginnings of Nevada City, genealogical and historical information on the amazing and perseverant pioneers of the Gold Rush era who helped to establish this town in 1851. You can read the local newspapers back for 150 years on microfilm, court documents are available in their original books, probates, wills, city directories, and maps of the original layout of Nevada City and Grass Valley are available to the public. There is a Mining Collection of books about the hundreds of mines, miners and geological manuals. There is also the A. C. Todd Cornish Collection housed in the building, to help the ancestors of the enormous influx of Cornish immigrants find information on their mining family members who came here to do the mining jobs that were so similar to the type of mining work that they had been doing in Cornwall, England.
Included in these tombs of knowledge are tax records, deed records, mining lists and indexes of businesses, letters of incorporation, biographic information on the mines, the land and business owners indexes, and a variety of vital statistics of the founders, builders and purveyors of the rich history of Nevada City and Grass Valley. Within these walls are genealogies of citizens of Nevada County past and present. The Nevada County Genealogical Society, established by Maria Brower, houses their library within the building and is available to the public for local and comprehensive genealogical research.
Genealogical research is approximately 80% of the research that is done at the Doris Foley Library, besides the enormous amount of requests for historical research by local authors and people all over the US and Europe. The staff provides training on Ancestry.com and genealogical research in general. The latest addition provided free to patrons of Nevada County Library System, is Heritage Quest, to help patrons with family research.
The various collections at the Foley Library include indexed information about Nevada County history and some surrounding areas. These records contain mine names, business names, town names that still exist and those that were once thriving Gold Rush towns, some of which are now evaporated into ghost towns and just place names, such as Meadow Lake, and You Bet.
The history of Nevada County, one of the truly legendary starting points of the Old West, is housed and full of pioneer spirit, stories of vigilantes, outrageous criminals, stalwart individuals who helped to shape the political structures of California. Some of these individual became great names in wealth, such ad the Hearst family, having accumulated fortunes in gold that turned into California’s Golden State history.
It contains texts on the struggles and the tragedies of western expansion in the United States right down to the first written account of the Donner Party, written by C. F. McGlashen, describing the tribulations of settlers who took on the great crossing of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, into California Territory in the winter of 1846 and 1847.
Some of the volunteers at the History Branch are local authors, local politicians, Historical Society members, local museum docents, wonderful and interesting people that have lived here all of their lives. All of these folks have contributed greatly to the vast and valuable collections of information about Nevada County’s people, their heritage, and the legacy that continues to this day.
The Doris Foley Library for Historical Research is a profound collection of Gold Rush and local history. It is a treasure to writers, historians, local authors, and those seeking the knowledge and remembrance of a time gone by, and the beginnings of the great Golden State of California. The ambiance is that of turn of the century, “old library” beauty, preserved into the 21st Century.
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