Martha Kinney Cooper

Martha Norma Kinney Cooper ( Kinney; January 12, 1874 – April 20, 1964) was the First Lady of Ohio. After her husband Myers Y. Cooper was elected governor of Ohio in 1929, Kinney Cooper decided to create a library housing the works of Ohioans.

Personal life Kinney Cooper was born to parents Joel and Sarah Kinney on January 12, 1874. Her father was a former Major during the Civil War and worked as a lawyer. Growing up, Kinney Cooper attended Walnut Hills Christian Church where she met her future husband, Myers Y. Cooper. She graduated from Woodward High School in 1892. She married Cooper on December 15, 1897, and they had two children together; Raymond K. Cooper and Martha Anne Cooper.

Career In early 1929, she moved into the governor's mansion with her husband. Kinney Cooper established relationships with various authors and interests groups to expand the library. Each spring, she would host a tea for Hamilton County authors at her Cincinnati home. She also developed a friendship with members of the National League of American Pen Women. One such member, Clara Heflebower, would go on to serve as secretary of the Ohioana Library committee.

By the 1931, the library already held more than 600 volumes. As a non-profit, all the books were collected through the authors themselves. By January 2001, the library again relocated, this time to 274 E First Avenue.

Kinney Cooper remained active with the library until her death in 1964.