The Menlo Park Library was started in 1916 as a branch of the San Mateo County Library. Around 1951, the American Association of University Women (AAUW) began organizing support for the Library. The AAUW believed in the importance of the Library to the Menlo Park community. The AAUW held its first Menlo Park book fair to sell donated books in 1952, which also helped build community support for the construction of a building as the home of the Menlo Park Library. This culminated in the passage of a bond measure to fund the building and its opening in 1958. Special collections at the Menlo Park Library include materials on the history of Menlo Park in the Menlo Park Historical Association offices in the library.