Ina Donna Coolbrith was born on March 10, 1841 in Nauvoo, Illinois. Ina was a writer, poet, teacher, and librarian in the SF Bay Area in the 19th and early 20th centuries. She published her writings and eventually became part of a San Francisco literary group. She was the first California Poet Laureate.
After the death of her child and the end of an abusive marriage, she decided to move to San Francisco with her family in 1862 and continue her writing. In 1874, Ina decided to adopt three children and began working at the Oakland Public Library. She mentored children, including Jack London and Isadora Duncan. Ina immersed herself in giving to children and teaching them the beauty in words. She built a strong community of poets, writers, artists, and activists. Coolbrith died in February of 1928 and was buried at the Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland.
Coolbrith attended high school in Southern California after traveling with her family by wagon from St. Louis, Missouri. She started writing and publishing poems in her teens and decided to move north to settle in the SF Bay Area. Here she became a prominent figure in the literary community and befriended other local writers, such as Mark Twain and Bret Harte.
When Ina moved to the SF Bay Area, she started out writing for a local literary newspaper. She continued publishing her work and soon became the talk of the town. Through engaging with the community, she made friends with other writers in the area. In 1868, some of her work was published by her friend Bret Harte, editor of the Overland Monthly. Her work has been recognized all around the world; she made a name for herself in the literary community and went on to serve the community. She became the head librarian of the Oakland Public Library and dedicated herself to her work of helping encourage literacy in children.
When Ina first arrived in the Bay, she spent a lot of her time in San Francisco’s Russian Hill neighborhood. She also spent a lot of her time wandering the city in parks and seemed to really enjoy the beauty of nature. There is a park on Russian Hill in San Francisco named after her.
Ina Coolbrith Park
Her time in Oakland was spent mostly at the Oakland Public Library. Here she was able to continue her passion for working with children. It is here that she was able to serve the community and advocate for educating children. Ina would go on to work for the Oakland Public Library for many years.
A lot of Ina’s poems show her love for nature and the outdoors. She talked a lot about the seasons and the beauty of California. She documented the beautiful scenery. Her connection to the Bay and love for its beauty is what kept her here, and now she rests in peace in the Oakland hills.
Haunts:
- The Oakland Library Association, 14th Street & Grove Street, Oakland, CA 94612.
- Mountain View Cemetery, 5000 Piedmont Avenue, Oakland, CA 94611.
~ by Mariah Brown ~
External Links:
George, Aleta. Ina Coolbrith: The Bittersweet Song of California’s First Poet Laureate. Shifting Plates Press, 2015.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/ina-coolbrith
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ina-Donna-Coolbrith
