San Mateo County Libraries

Changes in store at the Karl Vollmayer Local History Room

in Community

A few changes are in store at the Karl Vollmayer Local History Room at Redwood City’s main library. The library’s Archives Committee, which publishes The Journal of Local History, is the victim of rising postage costs, and that means the publication will now be emailed to its 100 or so subscribers. Memberships to the committee are available to the public; members who lack an email address on file will continue to receive the journal via the postal service, says committee president Marian Wydo. She adds that a few copies of each issue will remain in the Vollmayer Room.

The archives committee lost two of its most knowledgeable and dedicated members in 2022. John Edmonds, who died April 8 at age 82, was the author of several books on local history, particularly about Union Cemetery. He contributed many articles to The Journal of Local History, and was the committee’s president for years.

Florian Shasky, a Sequoia High School faculty member and former head of special collections at the Cecil H. Green Library at Stanford, died June 26 at 79. Active in the world of rare books and manuscripts, Shasky has been described as “a true bibliophile.”

Wydo’s mother, Frances Aragon, was another committee member; in Wydo’s words, “She loved Redwood City and saw many changes during her lifetime.” Aragon died June 10 at age 107.

This story first appeared in the January edition of Climate Magazine