Raise the Roof!!!
Help the Humboldt Arts Council “Raise the Roof” of the Morris Graves Museum of Art!
The recent series of atmospheric rivers and high winds have damaged the roof of the Historic Carnegie Library, now the Morris Graves Museum of Art, and the Humboldt Arts Council is asking the community for support to replace the damaged roof. In early January, HAC staff arrived to find a flood in the Youth Gallery and Classroom, which is in the French Basement on the lower level of the MGMA. Thankfully HAC Staff are trained in Emergency Preparedness and the necessary but temporary fixes have taken place to ensure the safety of the building and the over 900 objects in the HAC Permanent Collection that document the history of the arts of the North Coast. Now the HAC needs community support to raise $65,000, almost one-quarter of the HAC Annual Budget, to replace the roof before next winter.
The Historic Carnegie Library, now the MGMA, has provided the community monthly programs, exhibitions, and events for over 23 years and served the community for almost ten-decades in its previous life as the first free public library in the State of California. The MGMA welcomes over 45,000 visitors annually, provides over 40 exhibitions each year, houses the HAC Permanent Collection and serves as the epicenter of arts and culture each month during First Saturday Night Arts Alive and other public events.
“The community has fond memories of the Historic Carnegie Library, which was once the City of Eureka’s main social and cultural center, with a foreign language section, engaging books and periodicals, and a children’s reading room,” says Jemima Harr, Executive Director-Curator. “Since the year 2000, HAC Staff and Board have worked tirelessly to continue engaging our constituents through exhibitions and programs that meet the needs of our community. From Youth and Family Programs, monthly Jazz performances, and art classes and camps, the MGMA has fostered the development of new memories for our community and we need their support to protect and preserve this important treasure.”
History of the Carnegie Library
Opened on January 1, 2000, the Morris Graves Museum of Art is housed in the treasured Historic Carnegie Library, now the crown jewel of the arts community. The building gracefully houses seven premier galleries; a young artists' academy; a performance rotunda for music, dance and the literary arts; and the administrative offices of the Humboldt Arts Council.
After receiving a $20,000 Carnegie Library Grant in 1901, the Humboldt County library trustees held a competition and selected local architects Knowles Evans and B.C. Tarver of Eureka to design the building from red brick and Mad River granite exterior with two story solid redwood columns ringing a colorful tile mosaic floor in the domed Rotunda. The Carnegie Free Library in Eureka, California was built in Classical Revival Style in 1902.
The Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986 recognized both as a Carnegie Library and an example of Classical Revival architecture in a nearly-original condition. In 1996, the Humboldt Arts Council, purchased the library from the City of Eureka for one-dollar, and began the Carnegie Restoration Project to save Eureka's historic building and transform it into a cultural center and regional art museum.
To support the “MGMA Raise the Roof” effort, you can send a contribution to 636 F Street, Eureka, CA 95501 or visit www.humboldtarts.org to make a donation.