I just returned from a short (too short!) trip to San Francisco. The main purpose of my trip was actually to attend a photography workshop with my youngest daughter, but we flew out early to have a couple of hours to try to find out a little bit about Ruth Christine Enlow, the woman for whom our public library is named. First, we rode by the Richmond Branch of the San Francisco Public Library because this is the branch that Ruth Enlow worked at from 1930 until 1936, the year of her death. Unfortunately, this branch is under renovation and we couldn't get past the chain link fence that enclosed it to get better pictures or to see the inside.
We then taxied over to 1840 Franklin St....Ruth Enlow's residence in 1936. This might not be 1936, but you can just feel that era in these buildings on Franklin St. And we easily found 1840. It doesn't take much to imagine Ruth coming out of the building, heading off to 351 Ninth Ave. where she was a librarian at the Richmond Branch of the San Francisco Public Library.
We then headed over to the main branch of the SFPL to try see what we could find. Digging through some of the vertical files at the History Center at the main branch of the SFPL didn't actually turn up much more than the date she was hired at the Richmond branch, but all in all we still got a feel of the city where Ruth Enlow was born and raised. Getting to know a bit about her and her city has give me new appreciation for the name and the story behind our own Ruth Enlow Library here in Garrett County.
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