The Charles Holbrook Building stands as a century-long witness to the work of theological education on Berkeley’s Holy Hill.
On February 3, 1926, more than three hundred friends of the school gathered to dedicate what would become one of Pacific School of Religion’s most enduring landmarks, the Charles Holbrook Library.
Now, a century later, the building that has housed generations of theological study, moral inquiry, and public witness turns 100 years old.
Charles Holbrook, a Sacramento-based businessman and philanthropist, understood firsthand the fragility of economic systems. He had lived through three major economic disasters, including devastating losses sustained by his wholesale hardware firm during two fires in Sacramento. Yet it was not economic collapse that most concerned him.
At the library’s dedication in 1926, Holbrook spoke plainly about why he chose to invest in theological education:
“I have found that a city could recover quickly and thoroughly from an economic catastrophe… But I have also lived long enough to learn that both a city and an individual find it much harder and almost impossible to recover from a moral disaster.”
For Holbrook, the stakes were clear. Supporting an institution devoted to the spiritual and moral formation of leaders was not ancillary to social recovery, it was essential.
“For this reason,” he said, “I want to support an institution which is training men to minister to the spiritual and moral needs of the world.”
The trustees of the school honored his vision by placing the full name of the Charles Holbrook Library over the right entrance doors to the school. Holbrook’s daughter, Mrs. Silas H. Palmer, further commemorated her father’s legacy by presenting a bust of the donor, which now lives in PSR’s main lobby.
Over the decades, the Holbrook Library became home to an extraordinary collection. By the mid-20th century, the Seminary Library held more than 25,000 volumes and was recognized as one of the handsomest library structures on the Pacific Coast. Under the leadership of scholars such as J. Stillson Judah and Professor George C. Bade, the library became a center for rigorous study across traditions, languages, and disciplines. Much of the collection now lives at the GTU Library across the street from the PSR campus.
As PSR marks this centennial, the question Holbrook posed remains as urgent as ever: How do we form leaders to nurture the spiritual life of our shared future?
One hundred years on, the walls of Holbrook still shelter that work.
Source: Christian Seed in Western Soil: Pacific School of Religion Through a Century, Harland E. Hogue.