Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0977643506, Hardcover)

The founders of the Mechanics' Institute of San Francisco held their first meeting on a winter night in 1854. Among the charter members were skilled machinists, carpenters, dealers in building supplies and manufacturers of such basic products as stoves, hand tools, wheels, barrels and wagons. Their common link was a boundless faith in the future of San Francisco as an industrial center. Their mission was to stimulate the growth of industry on the Pacific Coast by igniting the ambitions and honing the practical skills of their fellow mechanics. This is the story of how a pioneer reading room for the education of craftsmen became a major library, research facility and social center in the heart of a busy city.