[2] After attending high school in St. Paul, Minnesota,[3] Pierce's family moved to Tacoma, Washington, in 1891 where she finished her secondary education.

[3] By 1894, she had convinced her father to provide the $500 necessary for her to attend the Library School at the Armour Institute of Technology, which later became the University of Illinois in Urbana.

[2] Following her first year in library school, Pierce began working as both an assistant at the Armour Institute and as an instructor for reference and bibliography.

Later in life, Pierce reflected: I do recall most vividly indeed those beginnings in August, 1905, when I arrived in Salem as Secretary of the Oregon Library Commission, which had neither books, quarters, traditions, nor financial support beyond the state appropriation of $1,200 a year for all expenses.

[2] The couple had dated for several years, but had not immediately married as it would have required Pierce to resign from her position as State Librarian.

The signage was added in response to increased awareness and sensitivity to Pierce's support for eugenics and her husband's association with the Ku Klux Klan.