Clara Breed

Clara Estelle Breed
Clara Breed in the 1920s
Born	March 19, 1906 Fort Dodge, Iowa
Died	September 8, 1994(1994-09-08) (aged 88) Spring Valley, California
Other names	"Miss Breed"
Occupation	Librarian
Known for	Support of Japanese American children during World War II

Clara Estelle Breed (March 19, 1906 – September 8, 1994) was a librarian in San Diego, California, remembered chiefly for her support for Japanese American children during World War II. After the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, many residents of California who were of Japanese descent were moved to remote Japanese American internment camps where they stayed until the end of the war. Breed kept in communication with many of the children who were sent to the camps, sending reading materials and visiting them regularly.

She worked for the San Diego Public Library system for more than 40 years, including 25 years as city librarian.

Clara Breed was born in Fort Dodge, Iowa, in 1906. Her parents were Estelle Marie Potter and Reuben Leonard Breed, a Congregational minister. The family lived in New York and Illinois, before moving San Diego in 1920 following the death of Reuben Breed. A 1923 graduate of San Diego High School and a 1927 graduate of Pomona College, Breed received her master's degree in library science from Western Reserve University.

In 1928 Breed started work as the children's librarian in the East San Diego branch library. In 1945 she was named acting city librarian. The following year, she was appointed San Diego's city librarian, a position she held for 25 years. During her tenure as city librarian, the library system expanded with the creation of a new main library in 1955, and the addition of several branch libraries. She established the Serra Cooperative Library System that increased efficiency of interlibrary loans. Previously, library patrons only could check books out of the agency (city, county, etc.) to which they belonged. With the creation of the cooperative library system, patrons could borrow books from libraries throughout San Diego and Imperial counties. She was also the driving force behind the construction of San Diego's central library building in the 1950s. In 1983 she wrote a centennial history of the San Diego library system, Turning the Pages: San Diego Public Library History, 1882–1982.