Gary F. Kurutz

Recently retired, Gary Kurutz served as director of the California State Library's special collections since 1980. Prior to this position, Kurutz was head librarian at the Sutro Library, library director of the California Historical Society, and bibliographer of western Americana at the Huntington Library. He is currently executive director of the California State Library Foundation and key educator at UCLA's Rare Book School. A popular speaker on California history and, in particular, the history of California libraries, Kurutz has received awards from the Book Club of California, the Commonwealth Club of California, the Oregon-California Trails Association, the California Committee for the Promotion of History, Sacramento Book Collectors Club, and Sacramento County Historical Society. One of his greatest accomplishments was advising on and helping plan the remodel of the State's Stanley Mosk Library and Courts Building (i.e., the original State Library building), which reopened in February 2014. Moreover, he has written numerous monographs and bibliographies on California and other western topics.

Gary Kurutz was inducted into the California Library Hall of Fame in 2019.