May 10, 1949:  Borrego Springs Branch of the San Diego County Free Public Library opened at Bill and Virginia DeMarais’ Hacienda Borrego Motel.  Two tall shelves were in the motel office; that was the library.  The County paid the DeMarais’ $3.39 a month to run the library.  Virginia was the librarian.

Long-time resident Virginia Demarais also served as Borrego Springs' unofficial historian.

For more than four decades, Virginia DeMarais would be associated with the Borrego Sun. Her collection of the Borrego Sun newspaper, spanning several decades is now housed at the San Diego Historical Society's Document Collection at the research archive located in Balboa Park. (Thank you Virginia for this tremendous gift.) The Borrego Sun issues are now on micro-film and available for review.