Mary Emily Foy (July 13, 1862 – February 21, 1962) was the first woman head librarian of the Los Angeles Public Library, appointed to the job in 1880 at the age of 18.

[5] He was succeeded in 1879 by an untrained partisan appointee, Patrick Connolly, who, it was suggested, was an alcoholic who missed more than his share of days at work and was discharged by the library board, which then vowed to name a "lady librarian."

Foy did not, however, leave quietly: She "published a valedictory in the newspaper where she criticized the [outgoing] board for its lack of involvement and interest in the library."

[6] The house where Mary Foy was born on July 13, 1862, and in which she lived is Los Angeles Historical Cultural Monument No.

[citation needed] Newspaper columnist John Adams, writing in the Downey Eagle, said that Foy was a "strong-willed woman" who "campaigned for Woodrow Wilson during his national political career and fought for decades for the California Progressive Movement and Women’s Rights".