L. Jones (1900-1905). There was further speculation as to why the board decided on appointing Foy as the first head woman librarian. It may have been a political choice since she represented values that flourished in women's organizations, aiming to please the city's powerful women's clubs who may have been applying pressure. It's also suggested that Foy's nomination was a financial move; John Littlefield earned a salary of $100 while Mary Foy earned $75, which included janitorial work. Tessa Kelso was appointed head librarian in 1889. She abolished the membership fee, increased membership from 100 to 20,000, increased the collection from 12,000 to 300,000 volumes, moved the books to open shelves, and permitted children to use the library. She set up an early system of branch libraries and moved the central library in to City Hall. She was forced out after a controversy over the library's acquisition of Jean Richepin's book La Cadet, which was considered indecent at the time. Mary Jones, who was appointed Librarian in 1905, was fired by the library board in favor of Charles Fletcher Lummis. The only reason given for this was that the library should be run by a man, not a woman. This provoked "The Great Library War". Women in Los Angeles petitioned and marched in support of Jones but she was finally forced out; she took up a position as head of the library at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. Lummis established several special collections, including photography, autographs, and California and Spanish history. He oversaw two moves into larger buildings, and he greatly increased use of the library through several outreach programs. Circa 1914, the collection numbered 203,600. The central library was located in the “Hamburger Building at Eighth and Broadway” with plans to soon move to the “Metropolitan Building at Fifth and Broadway.” The library had 22 branch “reading rooms” including two (San Pedro and Hollywood) housed in Carnegie library buildings. The library had a total of 41 “branches and distribution points” at that time, and cooperated with the “playground department” to offer “branch libraries” at “the Violet Street, Slauson, Hazard, and Echo Park playgrounds, and at the Recreation Center.” Aggressive expansion and growth of the system began in the 1920s. The first building dedicated exclusively for library use opened in 1926. City librarians 1873–1879: John Littlefield 1879–1880: Patrick Connolly 1880–1884: Mary Foy 1884–1889 : Jessie Gavitt 1889–1889: Lydia Prescott 1889–1895