Baker and Taylor were Scottish Fold cats who made their home at Douglas County Public Library in Carson Valley, Nevada. Their quiet presence became a local draw—and, after a promotional poster for book distributor Baker & Taylor unexpectedly caught on, brought the cats a wider audience than anyone had planned.
How Baker and Taylor came to live at the library
The cats arrived at Douglas County Public Library in spring 1983, according to a June 1987 article in the Nevada State Library, Archives and Public Records. By the time that account appeared, they were described as permanent fixtures—a familiar part of the library rather than occasional visitors.
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Their names echoed Baker & Taylor, the book-distribution company. But the cats’ role at the library was not just a piece of branding: they were there day to day, among the people who came to borrow books and use the building.
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The 1987 account describes a following built through ordinary contact. Baker and Taylor received fan mail and Christmas cards, and people came to the library specifically to see them. The cats became part of the place’s public identity, drawing attention from people who might not otherwise have walked through its doors.
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Library director Saddler offered a more striking observation: the article reports that some people who normally avoided books had taken up reading because of Baker and Taylor. That is a staff member’s reported impression, not a measured study of the cats’ effect on reading. Still, it suggests how a welcoming, memorable presence can connect people with a public institution.
The poster that made their fame travel
In a later interview, memoir co-author Lisa Rogak recalled that Baker & Taylor sales representative Bill Hartman proposed a poster featuring the library cats. The idea began as a minor marketing tool; its success surprised the people involved. The cats’ names already linked them to the company, but the poster turned that association into a recognizable image and helped carry their story beyond Carson Valley.
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Rogak remembered the two cats as similar in temperament: “Taylor was Felix and Baker was Oscar, but they were really very similar in being placid cats who were able to adapt to just about anything — except being photographed.” That description comes from her later recollection, not the contemporaneous library account.
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Jan Louch, an assistant librarian who cared for Baker and Taylor, told their story with Rogak in The True Tails of Baker and Taylor: The Library Cats Who Left Their Pawprints on a Small Town … and the World. The book follows the cats’ place in the library community and the affection they inspired among readers, librarians, and cat lovers. Macmillan’s publisher page identifies the memoir and describes historical tie-ins including cat calendars and a Baker & Taylor book bag. That record does not establish that these items are currently available or sold through an authorized outlet.
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The memoir is also listed on the Douglas County Public Library adult programs page. Its continued presence there points back to the story’s origins: not simply a marketing image, but two cats woven into the life of their local library.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What is known—and what remains unclear
The contemporaneous account establishes that Baker and Taylor arrived in spring 1983 and were library fixtures by June 1987. The sources cited here do not establish complete birth or death dates for both cats, so a full life chronology would go beyond what is documented. What they do preserve is a clear arc: two cats became beloved presences at a Nevada library, then accidental celebrities when a modest promotional idea reached far beyond it.
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