Cornelia Marvin Pierce

Cornelia Marvin Pierce (December 26, 1873 – February 12, 1957) was an American librarian, originally from Iowa. She moved to Oregon in 1905 to become the first director of the Oregon Library Commission and, later, the first Oregon State Librarian. She married former governor Walter M. Pierce in 1928, resigning her position to do so.

Early life Cornelia Marvin was born on December 26, 1873, in Monticello, Iowa, to Charles Elwell Marvin and Cornelia Marvin (née Moody) as the second of five children. After attending high school in St. Paul, Minnesota, Pierce's family moved to Tacoma, Washington, in 1891 where she finished her secondary education. In 1899 Pierce accepted her last position in the Midwest region, working as a full-time instructor at the Wisconsin Library Commission.

Pierce remained active in the library profession over the next couple of decades, participating in the Pacific Northwest Library Association. In 1913, she was appointed as the Oregon State Librarian, a role that she filled until 1928 when she married former Oregon governor Walter M. Pierce. Ultimately Pierce decided to support her husband for Congress and served as both his adviser and speechwriter during the campaign. Cornelia Marvin Pierce remained an important force behind the scenes, working as Walter M. Pierce's private secretary during his 10 years of Congressional service while also serving on the Oregon State Board of Higher Education from 1931 to 1935. After Walter M. Pierce's election loss in 1942, the couple retired to a farm in Salem, Oregon.

Eugenics and racial views In 2020, the Oregon State Library added contextual interpretive signage to a plaque in its building honoring Pierce. The signage was added in response to increased awareness and sensitivity to Pierce's support for eugenics and her husband's association with the Ku Klux Klan. She supported social Darwinism and wrote in 1955 that the highights of her career were her husband's passage of Oregon's sterilization law, and her support for eugenicist doctor Bethenia Owens-Adair.