SANTA MARIA Dorothea Dudley Nelson, Santa Maria’s second city librarian, has been selected for admission to the California Library Association’s Librarian Hall of Fame, according to a news release.
A formal ceremony will be held Oct. 24 in Pasadena at the California Library Association annual conference, Mark van de Kamp, spokesman for the city of Santa Maria, said in a news release.
Nelson was nominated to the Hall of Fame by current City Librarian Mary Housel.
Born Aug. 23, 1903 in Colorado Springs, Nelson was a 1933 graduate of the UC Berkeley Library School and was appointed to the position of City Librarian at the Carnegie Library in Santa Maria in 1934. She retired in 1968 and served as a consultant afterward.
“Over Nelson’s 34-year tenure as City Librarian, Santa Maria’s population quadrupled, prompting her and the library board to plan and build a new Mission-style library which opened in 1941. Nelson oversaw several building expansions including the children’s wing addition in 1963, and a second story completed in 1970,” Mr. Van de Kamp said.
Nelson worked to improve services in nearby Cuyama, Guadalupe and Orcutt, and built a new library in Los Alamos, Mr. Van de Kamp said.
The Library Board named a conference room after Dorothea Nelson in 1969.
She died in 1994 and is buried alongside her husband, Paul Nelson, at the Santa Maria Cemetery.
For more information. contact City Librarian Mary Housel at 925-0994, ext. 2322.
