Kalamazoo Ladies’ Library Association

Lucinda Hinsdale Stone

Subscription or social libraries provided most of the library services for the majority of adults in the United States before the 1870s. Michigan’s 1831 enabling legislation provided the framework for the state’s social libraries, the most prolific being ladies’ library associations. Between 1850 and 1900, approximately one hundred Michigan ladies’ library associations provided services to communities under this legislation, with the Kalamazoo Ladies’ Library Association leading the development and charting new territory for women’s organizations.

The earliest accounts of the Kalamazoo Ladies’ Library Association cite informal beginnings as a reading circle in the mid-1840s. The organization incorporated in 1852 and began providing services for members and the community. Lucinda Hinsdale Stone, an early leader in the Kalamazoo organization and recognized as Michigan’s “mother of clubs,” viewed the club movement as the vehicle for married women who had never had the opportunity to attend college. Women enriched themselves as they read, prepared and presented papers, and participated in the Association events.

Kalamazoo Ladies' Library Association building, circa 1880

The Kalamazoo Ladies’ Library Association also provided a very valuable service to the community by sponsoring the first public library. Yearly subscriptions cost fifty cents. Men could also join in order to access the library, but they could not participate in the meetings. Finding a space for the circulating library proved to be a major challenge for the first thirty years. It was initially located in a private residence, but public interest soon dictated a move to a downtown storefront. Over the years, the circulating library was located in the Kalamazoo County Courthouse, a church and eventually Corporation Hall, which also housed Kalamazoo’s municipal offices.

By the 1870s, state legislation shifted in favor of funding municipal libraries. The Kalamazoo Ladies’ Library Association grappled with its role in the changing milieu and also faced the prospects of losing their space in Corporation Hall. The women concentrated on changing the focus of the organization and determined to build a permanent home. The organization spent most of 1877 on fund raising. The women also led all phases of planning to build the $8,000 structure that was completed in 1878 and constructed on a donated lot, prominently situated one block south from the public square and about two blocks from the major business arteries of Rose Street and Main Street.

The new building represented a bold move by the Association, as it was the first women’s club building to be planned and constructed by a women’s organization in the United States. The women secured the necessary legislative approval from the state to own property worth less than thirty thousand dollars. It also presented new opportunities and challenges for the organization as it moved into the twentieth century. The Association continued emphasizing member enrichment, while broadening its support of a wide spectrum of charities. The clubhouse was restored in the 1970s and became the first building in Kalamazoo to be placed on the National Register. The organization and its magnificent clubhouse flourish in the twenty-first century with a membership of two hundred women.

The interior of the Kalamazoo Ladie's Library Association building, 1878