Sutro Library
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Adolph Sutro's collection (& more) via CA State Library. Materials date from 3 BCE to 21st century.
10/12/2026
October 12-16 is National School Lunch Week and we found a book from the 1860s,
Practical dietary for families, schools, and the labouring classes
Shelf Life is here! Take DIY to a whole new level with oak galls. To make iron gall ink, the type of ink used to sign the Declaration of Independence, you would need to find some oak galls in trees. Oak galls are rounded structures that grow on oak trees in response to attacks by wasps and other insects. The galls are rich in tannins that are a color source for dyes and inks. Female wasps lay eggs and inject chemicals into trees to stimulate the formation of a gall, which provides nutrition and protection to their larvae, who then hatch and emerge, leaving the husk.
Sailing the seven seas this Talk Like a Pirate Day? A good seadog needs a map, and this world map from the treasure chest at Sutro Library will help yer navigations
Observe the moon tonight with this Observatory Atlas from our collection.
Sept. 6 is Read a Book Day! You may need a magnifying glass to read these tiny books from our Sutro Library Collection, or you can just admire them in their spinning carousel.
Video description: custom made wood book carousel w/ 2 shelves of red bound books, about 3 inches tall
09/06/2026
Sept. 6 is National Beard Day, and this item from our collection displays quite a beard! The original British pamphlet was published in 1921 but we have the 1986 republished edition.
09/03/2026
Today we lost a feminist icon, Gloria Steinem. Here in our Sutro Library collections are some trade cards created by the Ms. Foundation, which was co-founded by Steinem. In 1993 it launched "Take Our Daughters to Work Day" to address self-esteem issues in young girls and expose them to diverse career paths. In the following year, the trading card was part of the promotional push during the event's massive initial surge in popularity. That year, the Ms. Foundation for Women introduced a unique educational tool called the "Women of Honor" trading cards. These cards were created specifically to be distributed as souvenirs and educational materials in conjunction with the foundation's national Take Our Daughters to Work Day initiative.
The set featured roughly 70 diverse, trailblazing women across various fields—ranging from literature and activism to science and politics—designed to provide young girls with real-life role models and inspire career confidence.
RIP Gloria Steinem
Since 1973, August 26 has been designated Women’s Equality Day and this registration book from the woman suffrage headquarters in New York is the perfect item to celebrate this day. While being an important historical item, it’s also a treasure trove for genealogists. It spans from 1909 to 1917.
Get ready for today’s eclipse with this 1873 book on the moon from our collection.
The Book of Cats: a chit-chat chronicle of feline facts and fancies, legendary, lyrical, medical, mirthful and miscellaneous by Charles Ross is a purrfect find from Sutro Library to honor 😸
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