The Doris Foley Library for Historical Research is a reference and research library in Nevada City, in Nevada County, California. Built in 1907, the Romanesque Revival style building is currently a branch of the Nevada County Library System.HistoryWith beginnings as an 1849 mining town, Nevada City had a reading room as early as 1850. Becoming a settlement, it boasted a library association in less than a decade, followed by a YMCA reading room and library in 1869. Ownership of an Odd Fellows Library that was established 1874, was transferred to the city in 1902, and the library was moved to the Corcoran Building next to the historic Nevada Theatre.The women of Nevada City urged the library trustees to seek Carnegie funds, and, in 1904, the trustees received a grant for $10,000. Bids were opened the following year, and the estimated completion date of a new library was 1906. As the library committee believed it might receive an additional $5,000 from Carnegie, plans were made for a more elaborate building, but on October 13, 1905, the trustees were notified there would be no additional funding, necessitating changes to the plans. William H. Weeks was the architect, while Watsonville's W.J. Wilkerson of Graniterock was the builder. Organized as the Civic Improvement Club, the city's women were the landscape planners. Furnishings cost $1,000. The library was dedicated on October 4, 1907.
