The Tacoma Public Library system has grown from humble beginnings. Longtime librarian Jacqueline Noel helped the library grow, even as she steered it through the challenges of the Great Depression and World War II.
From East Coast to Tacoma
Jacqueline Noel was born in Washington, D.C., on June 28, 1880, to Jacob Edmund Noel (1847-1918) and Eleanor Leadbeater Noel (1852-1924). She attended private school in New York City before the family moved to Tacoma in 1889. Her father, a former naval captain turned civil engineer, later became Pierce County Engineer.
In 1896, Noel became secretary of the Mary Lampheer Chapter of the Children of the American Revolution. Her mother was the society’s president.
Graduating from the library school at New York City’s Pratt Institute in 1913, Noel was hired as an assistant librarian in La Grande, Oregon.
Hired by Tacoma Public Library
In July 1914, the Tacoma Public Library picked Noel to be an assistant librarian in the reference department. Working at the Main Branch, she answered questions about everything from science to current politics. Noel was Tacoma’s “Google!”
Although promoted to first assistant in 1915, Noel resigned in January 1918 to become first assistant reference librarian in Portland. That move proved short-lived. When head Tacoma librarian John Kaiser took a leave of absence to set up a library at Camp Knox, Kentucky, during World War I, Noel returned to Tacoma as temporary head of the reference department. The job would become permanent.
Becoming Head Librarian
In 1924, Kaiser left for Iowa. Impressed by Noel’s years of service, Mayor Angelo Fawcett nominated her as city librarian. He wanted to pay her less than Kaiser and hadn’t consulted the Library Board about her appointment.
In the end, the board voted unanimously to hire her. In a bold move, they decided to pay her $2,700 per year. That was $300 more than Fawcett proposed, but around $1,000 less than Kaiser.
Expanding Tacoma’s Library System
Noel went straight to business. The greatest need, she felt, was to expand the library system. At the time, the library operated only the Main Branch, the 1911 South Tacoma branch and several temporary stations.
With funding limited, Noel turned to private donations. Her efforts resulted in two new branch libraries. Community members paid for the land while large donors funded the buildings.
The Wheeler Branch opened in 1927. Serving the Proctor district, it was originally named for donor Anna Lemon McCormick, widow of wealthy businessman Robert Laird McCormick.
The Mottet Branch followed in 1930, serving the McKinley Hill district. Donor Frederick Mottet had it named in memorial to his late wife, Charlotte.
The Great Depression Brings Challenges
The Great Depression brought severe budget cuts to the Tacoma Public Library. While times were tough, Noel was able to keep the doors open. In 1933, the worst year of the Depression, the library system had, in addition to its four branches, stations at Rhodes Department Store, neighborhood stores, fire stations, and Tacoma’s 41 public schools.
From 1938 to 1941, the library worked with the WPA, a New Deal relief program.
Noel constantly advocated for more library funding, with limited success. In 1940, voters rejected a levy that would have funded the construction of more branch libraries.
Further attempts at expansion would have to wait until after World War II. The library helped in the war effort and Noel chaired the USO’s Victory Book Committee, coordinating public donations of books and magazines.
Besides her work with the Tacoma Public Library, Noel was active in the professional library world. She was vice president of the Pacific Northwest Library Association and a member of the American Library Association. In 1933, she even presented a paper about the library’s popular business/technical collection at the annual ALA conference in Chicago.
Noel was also secretary of the Tacoma Library Board, chaired the Washington State General Federation of Women’s Club’s division of literature and belonged to the Business and Professional Woman’s Club.
Jacqueline Noel’s Retirement
A bad fall in the early 1940s barely slowed the busy librarian down. Her hard work culminated in the fall of 1946, when voters finally passed a bond measure to build an addition to the Central Library. This addition would open in 1952.
Noel retired on January 1, 1947. The library’s Staff Welfare Association celebrated with a dinner at the Top of the Ocean.
Noel spent her retirement doing what she loved, reading history and gardening. She was also active with clubs. She was president of the North End Shakespeare Club and regent of the Elizabeth Forey chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). Noel also belonged to the Aloha Club and the New York Huguenot Society.
Besides her library work, Noel has another claim to fame: naming almond roca. According to Brown & Haley, she called their new chocolate-covered toffee “Roca,” Spanish for “rock,” because of the toffee’s crunch and the fact that almonds were gourmet imports from Spain.”
Noel died on May 19, 1964. Former co-workers remembered her as private, efficient, and budget-conscious down to typewriter erasers. They praised her generosity to her employees and her kindness to her nephew, Thomas “Teddy” Mason (1914-1986), who lived with her. Mason left $380,000 in his will to the public library in memory of his aunt.
Jacqueline Noel dedicated her life to making the Tacoma Public Library a place for the community. “Jacqueline Noel was a lady of the old school,” the News Tribune praised her after her death, “cultured and gracious withal, and using all her considerable talent and attributes for the progress of her home city.”