Mary D. Pretlow Anchor Branch

Mary D. Pretlow Biography

Mary Denson Pretlow

Librarian, Writer, Advocate, Stateswoman

July 25, 1876 - June 16, 1959

Early Life

Mary Denson Pretlow was born July 25, 1876, on Marle Hill Plantation near Courtland in Southampton County, Virginia, where her father’s ancestors had lived for more than 300 years. She was the daughter of Joshua Pretlow and Ann Elizabeth Butler Pretlow of Petersburg, Virginia. As a young girl, she was educated by governesses and at private schools, before graduating from the Episcopal Female Institute in Winchester, Virginia, on June 15, 1892.

Early Career: New York City and St. Louis 

After deciding to pursue a career as a librarian, Miss Pretlow journeyed to New York City to attend the Librarian Training Class of the New York City Public Library. After graduating, she remained with the New York City Public Library system as a Children’s Librarian, and subsequently was appointed manager of Manhattan’s Hudson Park Branch, the youngest person at that time to hold the position of branch manager within the New York City Public Library system. Hudson Park was a predominantly Italian neighborhood located on the lower west side. The books in the library for adults were in the Italian language while the children’s books were in English. Miss Pretlow remembered that the Hudson Park Branch was always filled with energetic children and today remains primarily a children’s library.

Mary Pretlow moved to St. Louis in the early 1910s, and was placed in charge of two St. Louis Public Library branches, the Soulard and the Cabanne libraries. There she gained additional experience working with immigrant populations, serving library patrons speaking Russian, Italian, Bohemian, and German. Pretlow prospered within the St. Louis system until opportunity brought her home
to Virginia in 1917.

Coming Home to Virginia: Norfolk Public Library

Pretlow came back to her home state in 1917 to take charge of the Norfolk Public Library after the death of the first director, William Henry Sargeant, becoming the first woman to hold the highest position in the library system. At the time, the Norfolk Public Library system had only two buildings, the Carnegie-funded library on West Freemason Street and the Van Wyck Branch Library on Shirley Avenue.

Unselfish Service: Paris, France - World War I

Her return to Virginia was cut short as war broke out in Europe. During the early part of America’s involvement in World War I, Mary Pretlow helped organize a night school in the old Boush Street Public School to help young servicemen prepare for the Ensign’s examination at the naval base’s Officers’ Material School. She also worked with the War Camp Community Service (WCCS) to gather reading materials for the service members, and, was active in the Red Circle Club which organized entertainment and dances for the troops stationed in Norfolk.

In the fall of 1918, her patriotism stirred, Pretlow received a leave of absence from the Norfolk Library Board to travel to France to serve as hostess for the Paris YMCA. With an efficient staff of trained workers, she was in charge of looking after American servicemen. She assisted the Allied troops, especially Americans, with tours, arranging entertainment, and even shopping for them, since most could not speak French. Her free time allowed her to explore Paris and travel to Rheims; she even visited the frontlines and several captured German trenches. She also enjoyed visiting French libraries, but found a majority catered only to academia.  Miss Pretlow considered her time in Paris one of the greatest experiences of her life. She came back home to Virginia in late August 1919.

Home Again: Career with the Norfolk Public Library

The City of Norfolk had grown steadily through a series of annexations of county land beginning in 1887. In 1923, the city undertook its most ambitious annexation, incorporating twenty-seven square miles of Norfolk County. With one of her primary goals being the establishment of library branches, Miss Pretlow worked tirelessly to build the library system.  Six branches were added during her tenure, including the Blyden Branch, the first public library for African Americans supported by a municipality in the State of Virginia. Miss Pretlow was proud of the growth of the Norfolk Public Library under her leadership. “I was anxious that books should be put within reach of everyone in Norfolk. The idea of a public library is to put books in walking distance of every person.” In 1927, Miss Pretlow established the Sargeant Memorial Room to house the collection of materials relating to local history and genealogy begun by her predecessor, William Henry Sargeant.

Norfolk Public Library Branches Opened by Mary Denson Pretlow

April 20, 1921 – Berkley Branch (now Horace C. Downing Branch)
July 19, 1921 – Blyden Branch
April 26, 1922 – Brambleton Branch (now Jordan – Newby Branch)
July 21, 1923 – Ocean View Branch (now Mary D. Pretlow Anchor Branch)
September 24, 1923 – Tanners Creek Branch (now Larchmont)
July 03, 1930 – Lafayette Branch

Winds of War: World War II and the Norfolk Public Library

In the 1940s, Mary Pretlow found herself facing another world war and the ramifications of the conflict on Norfolk. After twenty-five years as Library Director, she focused on making the library an important location for the transit military population, and finding ways to improve their lives. The Library sponsored book drives to collect books and magazines to benefit military units in Norfolk. This effort was a success; over 15,000 books and magazines were collected by the local Boy and Girl Scouts in conjunction with the staff of the Norfolk Public Library. These books and magazines were then distributed among the Allied ships visiting the port and the local military installations. The escort carrier, HMS Reaper, was the last ship to receive books from the book drive on August 8, 1945.  After the war, Mary Pretlow became part of the Norfolk World War II History Commission, which endeavored to create a documented history of the effect of World War II on the City and its citizens.

Life outside Libraries and Retirement

After returning from France in 1918, Pretlow resumed her work with local organizations. She served on the Council of Thirty Tidewater Women, and, was active in such local groups as APVA (Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities), Women’s Council for Interracial Cooperation, the Women’s Club of Norfolk, the Norfolk Society of Arts, Woman’s Democratic Club, and the Order of Cape Henry 1607. She also helped organize the Norfolk Forum, and was one of the founders of the Little Theatre of Norfolk. She worked with Norfolk’s Young Women’s Christian Association and was a counselor for the Phyllis Wheatley Branch, Norfolk’s African American YWCA. She also found time in her busy life to write short stories and other literary works for journals and newspapers. Her writings were published in the New York Herald, The Sun, The World, The Saint Louis Mirror, and Library Journal to name a few. Her series called “Street Stories,” published in the New York Evening Post, brought her accolades as a serious writer and literary critic.

She published two cookbooks, The Small Family Cookbook and Old Southern Receipts Calendar, although she herself never stepped into a kitchen to cook! “I don’t cook ….I just don’t like to cook. And I don’t sew,” she once told a local reporter. Miss Pretlow retired from the Norfolk Public Library in 1947, after thirty years of service. At that time, the library system consisted of a central library and six branches. She pushed for integration, and before she retired, all library buildings in the Norfolk Public Library system were open to everyone. She was very proud of serving the Norfolk Public Library system and seeing it prosper under her leadership. Mary Pretlow did not slow down in retirement; she continued her involvement with different groups and organizations, becoming more active politically in the Democratic Party by taking a seat in 1949 on the Democratic State Central Committee. She also continued her advocacy for the Norfolk Public Library and libraries in general.

“People need to think.  They need something to think about, to stir the imagination. Books, more than anything else, supply these needs.” 

Miss Pretlow died in a Norfolk hospital on June 16, 1959, leaving behind cousins, nephews and nieces that included nephews, Virginia Governor Colgate Darden and Norfolk Mayor Pretlow Darden; and her niece, civic activist Katharine Darden Lindsay. She is buried in the family cemetery at Beechwood, Southampton County, Virginia.

Mary D. Pretlow Anchor Branch Building history

Opening on July 21, 1923, the Ocean View Branch was located on the second floor of the Ocean View Branch of the Trust Company of Norfolk building on A Avenue. In 1939, it was moved into a large room in Ocean View School. It moved again in 1961 and was renamed for Mary Denson Pretlow, Norfolk Public Library’s second library director. 

The Pretlow Branch closed in February 2005 and reopened on April 1 at a temporary location so that a larger, regional or "anchor" library could be built on the site. Mary D. Pretlow Anchor Branch opened in 2008. The $10.8 million regional facility with 90 public computers and a huge children's area featured a 110-seat public meeting room and a wing for the Ocean View Station Museum. It was the city’s first anchor branch library.