Arminda Bates papers (single-source)

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: Mss 22-T40s

Staff Only

Content Description

Scrapbooks from her time as a student at the College of the Pines, notes from her education in New York, a diary she kept as the first professional librarian of the College, and photographs of the early College campus and her home. A small number of materials related to the Bandon, OR, Public Library.

Dates

Creation: 1895-1950

Biographical / Historical

Arminda Bates was born in Florence, OR, in 1878, the daughter of lighthouse keepers Samuel and Perpetua Bates. The family relocated to Pinesdale, OR, in 1888 to escape the perpetual dampness. Arminda attended the Academy of the Pines and the College of the Pines, graduating in 1899. After additional education at Columbia University in New York, she became the College’s first professional librarian in 1901, and held that post until 1916. She then married Arthur Fix, a lighthouse keeper, and served with him for the remainder of their careers at the Coquille River Lighthouse in Bandon, OR. They had no children. With the lighthouse’s proximity to town, she took an active role in developing the public library. She died in Bandon in 1963.