History That’s Right Off the Shelf

Willie McPherson is an unlikely player in the Orange Public Library’s ambitious expansion of its main branch.

First of all, he’s been dead for 40 years.

And second, the Orange pioneer was a recluse and packrat who spent his final years in a two-story house filled with trash, yellowed newspapers, half-eaten food, memorabilia of all sorts and 10,000 history books -- the leather binding of some eaten by rats.

But McPherson, who died at 79, also left behind more than 2,000 photos he took throughout the state and the Southwest during the first half of the 20th century.

His images captured forgotten Indian rituals, ruins of the California missions, Memorial Day celebrations in Orange featuring Civil War veterans, and the great Orange County flood of 1938.

The photo collection, after passing through the hands of two parties, landed at the Orange library this year and has become a featured piece of its burgeoning regional history center.

“It’s a treasure,” said Douglas Westfall, a history buff and president of the library’s board of trustees. He’s also made scores of prints from McPherson’s negatives in his home darkroom.

“I knew about his collection, but to have it in hand....”

The library’s growing history collection is helping propel expansion of the main library that will result in a tripling of space, including a history room and reading tower. The new facility will be renamed the Orange Library and History Center. Groundbreaking on the expansion is set for January, with completion projected for September 2006.

The library comes by its historic character naturally. Founded in 1885, it’s the oldest public library in Orange County. Now an updated brick structure, it lies a few blocks east of the traffic circle in the Old Towne Historic District, which encompasses more than 1,500 buildings and homes.

The library started gathering bits and pieces of local history even before the city incorporated in 1888. And 100 years later, the library’s collection received a major boost when the Orange Community Historical Society agreed to hand over its collection -- stored in a bank basement -- to the library for greater public access.

“That was when we really began to focus on collecting and preserving, reaching out to the community and getting grants,” said Nora Jacob, the city librarian.

The library has received a $9-million state grant for its expansion, in part because of its history collection, and has raised $500,000 of the $4 million needed in private donations.

Its historical bent, which will also be reflected in architectural flourishes to the addition’s exterior and interior, mirrors the desires of residents. In a city survey, residents rated a local history room at the library as their No. 2 priority for the facility, just behind a combination of more books and space.

“It speaks to how connected people are to Orange’s history,” Jacob said.

A $49,000 federal grant has allowed the library to put nearly 2,700 of the 10,000 photos in its collection online (www.cityoforange.org/localhistory) -- a service that’s especially valuable for researchers who no longer need to travel to Orange.

Computer users can see a portrait of the Fairview baseball team of 1888 that played near what is now the city of Costa Mesa, most of its mitt-less players sporting handlebar mustaches.

Or a 1900 photo of a family of farmers in eastern Orange County spreading thousands of apricots on wooden flats to dry in the sun.

Or a 1927 photo of flood waters that engulfed what’s now John Wayne Airport, leaving two planes stranded next to the submerged hangar.

The library also has more than 2,000 file folders filled with ephemera -- advertisements, handbills and posters meant to be of temporary interest.

One piece is a brochure from 1888 promoting the new development of Orange. Among the boasts: “Cheap Land, Rich Soil.” “Best Investment in California.” “Most Water and Finest Climate.” “Elegant Hotel, Two Railroads, Park, Street Cars, Public Library, Good Schools, Five Churches.”

When Westfall -- founder of Paragon Agency Publishers, which specializes in historical books -- was appointed to the library’s Board of Trustees eight years ago, he pushed to add regional material to the historical collection.

And because the library’s collection is of general interest, Westfall said, he hopes other institutions with a narrower historic focus will give their unused material to the Orange library.

Such was the case with the McPherson collection, which had been given last year to the San Juan Capistrano Historical Society by a nearby family.

Society archivist Don Tryon kept about 15% of the collection: photos of the mission and of San Juan Capistrano and surrounding communities. For the hundreds of remaining pictures, he knew just the place: the Orange Library and History Center.

“I heard about what they were doing in Orange, and it sounded like a great thing,” Tryon said.

The windfall shows how Westfall believes the history center will continue to flourish: “Historical discards can be gold for us.”