 Hi, thank you for having me. My name's Taryn Edwards. I'm one of the eight librarians we have on staff at the Mechanics Institute of San Francisco. And it really is one of my life's joys to talk about it. So if you have any questions, feel free to shoot after the program today or approach me later. So the Mechanics Institute, there we go. Sorry, yeah, here we go. Here I am. All right, the Mechanics Institute's the oldest library on the West Coast designed to serve the public. It's also a cultural event center and the oldest continuously operating chess club in the United States. Have any of you been here before? Great, all right, so you're familiar. All right, but before I go any further, you're probably wondering, what is a mechanic and why do they need an institute? Well, generally speaking, the word mechanic in the 19th century meant anyone who works with their hands. So craftsmen, artisans, artists, and Mechanics Institutes, they started in Scotland in the mid-1820s. And what they were, were a vehicle for educating the working class. Keep in mind, the world was changing dramatically with the mechanization of labor and exciting new technologies like steam engines. The working people were concerned that their jobs were going to be taken away from them. And so they were very curious about these new technologies. And so they flocked to Mechanics Institutes. As a whole, Mechanics Institutes were very formulaic. They usually hosted talks and lectures on scientific topics. And they usually had a library to support those teaching endeavors. And you have to keep in mind that this was a time prior to government-funded universities, colleges, and libraries. So the concept spread like wildfire, naturally, and quickly took over the entire English-speaking world. In the mid-19th century, there were over 800 Mechanics Institutes in England alone. There were a handful in the US and in Canada. But the San Francisco Mechanics Institutes, the oldest or the only one on the West that really made a true go of it. And here we are, 161 years later. And we're one of the few in the world that continues to operate on its original mission. And furthermore, we were founded because San Francisco was suffering from the after-effects of the California's gold rush. In 1854, the surface gold had largely dried up. But thousands upon thousands of people were still coming to the city and the state, hoping to strike it rich. But they were a bit late to the party. And the state's production of gold had largely had decreased, basically. And that sent the entire state and the city, especially, into a major economic depression. And at the same time, because of this economic depression, the artisans and craftsmen of the city were grappling with wage disparities. And they were forced to pay exorbitant taxes. And there really was no place to further their education. So they began to see a need for an organization that would cater to their sociopolitical needs, their reading interests, and their professional growth. And so something had to change. And on December 11, 1854, two scores of men met in the city hall, which was then at Portsmouth Square with the object of forming a mechanics institute. Our founders all shared boundless faith in the future of San Francisco as a port and an industrial center. They also had a strong belief in the power of self-improvement through education. And as you can see, they all had beautiful beards. From the beginning, the directors knew what sort of institution they wanted to create, one with a library that had open stacks. That was kind of a revolutionary idea. They wanted all the books to be accessible and not under the power of the librarian. They wanted to have a game room where members could get together and relax after a long day at work over a game of chess or checkers. They wanted to have long hours so that people with different schedules could be accommodated. And they wanted to be an organization that welcomed everyone, regardless of race or gender. And of course, to cost as little as possible. So this photo is of our first building. We're on the top floor of the express building right up there. No elevators yet. So one had to be quite dedicated to get to the top and check out materials. So this building is right next door to where the Wells Fargo History Museum is today on Montgomery at California. So who used the Mechanics Institute? Well, mechanics, artisans, craftspeople of all stripes, business owners, sorry, artists, more beards, foreign dignitaries, scientists and visionaries, writers. No beards here, but yeah. They're both named Gertrude. Dancers, some certainly were. And citizens of principle who believed that a city can never have too many libraries. Both of these men, Andrew Smith-Hallity and Irving Murray Scott, were presidents of the Mechanics Institute. And together they helped found the San Francisco Public Library. Perhaps more importantly, they helped draft the piece of legislation, the Rogers Free Library Act, that empowered California cities to levy taxes to support libraries. In 1878, once that piece of legislation passed, public libraries up and down the state, including the San Francisco Public, the Oakland Public, Alameda Public, they could open their doors and keep them open because they had a steady stream of income. Meanwhile, by 1906, the Mechanics Institute sported a library of nearly 200,000 volumes. In all subject areas, not just boring technical reports. They had literature, history, business, social sciences. This photo is of Post Street, and it's our building that stood there at 31 post from 1866 to 1906. This building would first fall down on April 18, 1906, and then burn. And unfortunately, we lost everything. But we quickly rebuilt. And in July of 1908, the Mechanics Institute hired cutting edge architect Albert Pisces to design our new building, which stands on the site of our old one. The street's been renumbered. It's now 57 post, and it's between Montgomery and Kearney. Here are some views of our library. This is the second floor. And the library is two floors, so two stops on the elevator. But there's a total of five levels of books. And the Mechanics Institute continues to thrive. Membership is open to the public, and it's $95 a year, which affords one access to our well-rounded library of over 130,000 volumes, technology classes, books and writers groups. We host about 50 different speakers a year, which include history lecturers. We also have authors coming to present their new books. We have panel discussions on timely topics, food and wine tastings, and the occasional musical performance. We also have a film club that meets on Fridays. And of course, you can learn to play chess. So the Mechanics Institute isn't really a special library, although it is indeed very special. It's pioneering, and passion, pride and principle is certainly what drives the staff and the members to keep it going. So if you love libraries, and you are a librarian, you should come and check it out. Or if you just want a dose of authentic San Francisco, we have a lot of it. Thank you. And we have a free tour every Wednesday at noon.