Quiet Pioneers: Black Women Public Librarians in the Segregated South

1. George S. Bobinski, Carnegie Libraries: Their History and Impact on American Public Library Development (Chicago, IL: American Library Association, 1969), 3, 13.

2. Cheryl Knott Malone, "Accommodating Access: 'Colored' Carnegie Libraries, 1905-1925." Ph.D. thesis, University of Texas at Austin, 1996; Malone, "Louisville Free Public Library's Racially Segregated Branches, 1905-35" Register of the Kentucky Historical Society 93:2 (Spring 1995): 159-179; and Malone, "Autonomy and Accommodation: Houston's Colored Carnegie Library, 1907-1922" Libraries & Culture 34 (Spring 1999): 95-112.

3. Anne Firor Scott, "Most Invisible of All: Black Women's Voluntary Associations," The Journal of Southern History 56 (February 1990), 3-22; see also Scott's Natural Allies: Women's Associations in American History (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1991).

4. Cynthia Neverdon-Morton, Afro-American Women of the South and the Advancement of the Race, 1895-1925 (Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press, 1989); Darlene Clark Hine, When the Truth is Told: A History of Black Women's Culture and Community in Indiana, 1875-1950 (Indianapolis, IN: National Council of Negro Women, Indianapolis Section, 1981); Paula Giddings, In Search of Sisterhood: Delta Sigma Theta and the Challenge of the Black Sorority Movement (New York: Morrow, 1988); Jacqueline Anne Rouse, Lugenia Burns Hope, Black Southern Reformer (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1989); Deborah Gray White, Too Heavy a Load: Black Women in Defense of Themselves, 1894-1994 (New York: W.W. Norton, 1999); Wanda A. Hendricks, Gender, Race, and Politics in the Midwest: Black Cub Women in Illinois (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1998); Anne Meis Knupfer, Toward a Tenderer Humanity and a Nobler Womanhood: African American Women's Clubs in Turn-of-the-Century Chicago (New York: New York University Press, 1996); Earline Rae Ferguson, "A Community Affair: African-American Women's Club Work in Indianapolis, 1879-1917." Ph.D. thesis, Indiana University, 1997.

5. Stephanie J. Shaw, What a Woman Ought to Be and to Do: Black Professional Women Workers during the Jim Crow Era (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1996).

6. Glendora Johnson-Cooper, "African-American Historical Continuity: Jean Blackwell Hutson and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture," in Suzanne Hildenbrand, ed., Reclaiming the American Library Past: Writing the Women In (Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1996), 27-51; and Helen H. Britton, "Dorothy Porter Wesley: A Bibliographer, Curator, and Scholar," in Hildenbrand, Reclaiming, 163-186.

7. Darlene Clark Hine, Elsa Barkley Brown, & Rosalyn Terborg-Penn, eds., Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia (Brooklyn, NY: Carlson Pub., 1993); Jessie Carney Smith, ed. Notable Black American Women (Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1992-1996); Jessie Carney Smith, "Sweet Sixteen: Black Women Librarians, 1882-1992," in Culture Keepers: Enlightening and Empowering Our Communities (Newark, NJ: Black Caucus of the American Library Association, 1993), 118-26; and Jessie Carney Smith, "Black Women, Civil Rights, & Libraries," in John Mark Tucker, ed., Untold Stories: Civil Rights, Libraries, and Black

Librarianship (Champaign, IL: Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois, 1998), 141-50.

8. E.J. Josey & Ann Alien Shockley, eds., Handbook of Black Librarianship (Littleton, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1977); EJ. Josey, The Black Librarian in America (Metuchen, NJ, Scarecrow Press, 1970); EJ. Josey, ed., The Black Librarian in America Revisited (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1994); EJ. Josey & Marva L. DeLoach, eds., Handbook of Black Librarianship 2nd ed. (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2000); Annette L. Phinazee, ed., The Black Librarian in the Southeast: Reminiscences, Activities, Challenges (Durham, NC: North Carolina Central University School of Library Science, 1980).

9. George S. Bobinski, Jesse Hauk Shera, & Bohdan S. Wynar, eds., Dictionary of American Library Biography (Littleton, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1978); Wayne A. Wiegand, ed., Supplement to the Dictionary of American Library Biography (Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1990); see also Edward A. Goedeken, "The Rainbow Survivors of Some Vanished Grey Moment of Reality: A Prosopographical Study of the Dictionary of American Library Biography and its Supplement" Libraries & Culture 30 (Spring 1995): 153-69.

10. Lorna Peterson, "Review of John Mark Tucker, ed., Untold Stories: Civil Rights, Libraries, and Black Librarianship," H-LIS, H-Net Reviews, June 1999, URL: http://www.h-net.msu.edu/reviews/showrev.cgi?path= 18765930073954; Malone, "Accommodating Access," 78-80,113-16,164-68; Cheryl Knott Malone, "Autonomy and Accommodation," 95-112. The persistence over time of this gendered pattern is apparent in Andrea L. Williams, "A History of the Holland Public Library, Wichita Falls, Texas, 1934-1968," in Untold Stories, 62-77.

11. Charles Clarence Williamson, The Williamson Reports of 1921 and 1923, Including Training for Library Work (1921) and Training for Library Service (1923) (Metuchen NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1971), 136 (1923); see also Sarah K. Vann, The Williamson Reports: A Study (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1971).

12. Shaw, What A Woman Ought to Be, 229,232-33,235; Smith, "Sweet Sixteen," 123-24.

13. Lucy B. Campbell, "The Hampton Institute Library School," in Josey & Shockley, Handbook of Black Librarianship, 35; for an account of the controversy surround¬ing the establishment of Hampton's library training courses, see Robert Sidney Martin & Orvin Lee Shiflett, "Hampton, Fisk, and Atlanta: The Foundations, the American Library Association, and Library Education for Blacks, 1925-1941." Libraries & Culture 31 (Spring 1996): 299-325.

14. Malone, "Louisville Free Public Library's Racially Segregated Branches," 159-179; C.C. Williamson & Alice L. Jewett, Who's Who in Library Service (New York: Wilson, 1933), 203; United States. Works Progress Administration, Libraries and Lotteries: A History of the Louisville Free Public Library (Cynthiana, KY: Hobson Book Press, 1944), 118; George C. Wright, Life Behind a Veil: Blacks in Louisville, Kentucky, 1856-1930 (Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1985), 69,130-131, 140,151-152, 168.

15. Rachel D. Harris, "Work with Children at the Colored Branch of the Louisville Free Public Library," in Alice I. Hazeltine, ed., Library Work with Children: Reprints of Papers and Addresses (White Plains, NY: H.W. Wilson Co., 1917), 382.

16. Rachel D. Harris, "The Advantages of Colored Branch Libraries," Southern Workman" (July 1915): 383.

17. The quotation is from Carrie C. Robinson, "First by Circumstance," in Josey, Black Librarian in America, 276.

18. Thomas F. Blue, "A Successful Library Experiment," Opportunity 2 (August 1924): 246.

19. Irene Cross Hansbrough, "Public Library Service to Negroes in Knoxville, Tennessee," master's thesis, Atlanta University, June 1959, 34.

20. Annie Greene King, "Library Service and the Black Librarian in Alabama," in Phinazee, ed., The Black Librarian in the Southeast, 21.

21. Quoted in Lillian Taylor Wright, "Thomas Fountain Blue, Pioneer Librarian, 1866-1935," master's thesis, Atlanta University, 1955, 35.

22. Thomas F. Blue & Rachel D. Harris, Some Books and Pamphlets, Music, Magazines, and Newspapers by Negro Writers, Composers and Editors in the Colored Department of the Louisville Free Public Library (Louisville, KY: Louisville Free Public Library, 1921).

23. Lizzie Evans Pierce, "A Tribute to Mrs. Rachel D. Harris," typescript, African American Archives, Western Branch, Louisville Free Public Library, hereafter cited as LFPL.

24. Smith, "Black Women," 142-43; the quotation is on 142.

25. Thomas F. Blue, "A Hamptonian as Librarian," Southern Workman 0uly 1923): 369.

26. Charlotte Templeton, Report of the Library Institute for Negro Librarians (Atlanta, GA: Morehouse-Spelman Summer School, 1930), 1,4; Pierce, "A Tribute to Mrs. Rachel D. Harris."

27. C.A. Liggin to Clarence R. Graham, April 2, 1954, LFPL archives. The Harris branch no longer exists.

28. Pierce, "A Tribute to Mrs. Rachel D. Harris."

29. Photograph and caption, Louisville Defender, August 9, 1956; clipping in LFPL.

30. Wright, Life Behind a Veil, 2-5; James Martin SoRelle, "The Darker Side of 'Heaven': The Black Community in Houston, Texas, 1917-1945." Ph.D. dissertation, Kent State University, 1980.

31. Malone, "Autonomy and Accommodation," 103-104; Jackson, Sure Foundation, 781-783,797-799; Unidentified clipping in the Dr. Benjamin Covington collection, Houston Metropolitan Research Center, Houston Public Library, hereafter cited as HMRC.

32. Examination Questionnaire; Applications of Pauline R. Lewis, Pinkie Yates Henderson, and Anna Belle Edwards, August 28,1912; letter from Julia Ideson to E.O. Smith, August 12, 1912; letter from Pauline Lewis to the Colored Branch Board of Trustees, August 14,1912;letter from Julia Ideson to P.W. Horn, August 29,1912;letterfromP.W. Horn to Julia Ideson, September 3, 1912; and letter from Emma Myers to Julia Ideson, September 12, 1912; all, HMRC.

33. Letter from E.O. Smith to Julia Ideson, n.d., "Dedication Exercises at Colored Carnegie Library," Houston Chronicle clipping, n.d., HMRC; Malone, "Accommo¬dating Access," 136-139.

34. Letter from Julia Ideson and the Houston Lyceum and Public Library Board of Library Trustees to the Colored Branch Board of Trustees, n.d., HMRC.

35. Houston Lyceum and Public Library Board Meeting Minutes, April 13, 1909; Bessie Osborne quoted in E.O. Smith to Julia Ideson, February 3, 1913, HMRC.

36. Letter from George T. Settle to Julia Ideson, March 8, 1913; George T. Settle to Julia Ideson, March 24, 1913, HMRC.

37. Bessie Osborne to Julia Ideson, Sept. 25, 1917, HMRC.

38. Untitled photograph and caption, The Crisis 6 (June 1913): 64.

39. Charles F. Smith, "Negro Boy Contributed Most Books," Houston Post, April 19, 1914, clipping in HMRC.

40. Memorandum to the Honorable Ben Campbell, Mayor, and Commissioners of the City of Houston, HMRC. Although unsigned and undated, internal evidence, i.e., the wording of the letter, indicates it was written in May 1914 by E.O. Smith; Bessie B. Osborne, "Report Sent Carnegie Corporation by Colored Carnegie Library," October 26, 1915, HMRC.

41. Emma Myers, Monthly Report, March 1910, and November 1910; Bessie Osborne, Monthly Report, April 1913, and May 1913,allatIIMRC;J.B. Bell, "Annual Report of J.B. Bell, Treasurer, Colored Carnegie Library for Year Ending December 31, 1916," in Illustrated City Book of Houston (Houston, TX: The City, 1917), 643-648.

42. For a detailed account of the shifting status of Houston's Colored Carnegie Library, see Malone, "Autonomy and Accommodation," 95-112.

43. Bessie Osborne to Julia Ideson, Oct. 19, 1921, HMRC.

44. Bessie Osborne to Julia Ideson, Dec. 15, 1921 and Nov. 8, 1922; Bessie Osborne, "Summary of the Work in Colored Branch for Year 1922," all, HMRC.

45. Bessie Osborne to Julia Ideson, Sept. 3, 1924, HMRC.

46. Ruthe Winegarten, Black Texas Women: 150 Years of Trial and Triumph (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1995), 216; "Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Texas Commission on Inter-Racial Co-operation." Houston, November 6, 1926; in the Texas Commission on Interracial Cooperation Collection, HMRC.

47. Jesse O. Thomas, A Study of the Social Welfare Status of the Negroes in Houston, Texas (Houston, TX: [Negro Citizens Committee], 1929), 96.

48. Ibid., 97-101; Fayrene Neuman Mays, "A History of Public Library Service to Negroes in Houston, Texas, 1907-1962," master's thesis, Atlanta University, 1964, 31.

49. Bobby L. Lovett, The African-American History of Nashville, Tennessee, 1780-1930: Elites and Dilemmas (Fayetteville, AR: University of Arkansas Press, 1999); Don II. Doyle, Nashville in the New South, 2&SO-1930_(Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press, 1985); and Lester C. Lamon, Black Tennesseans, 1900-1930 (Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press, 1977).

50. Nashville Public Library Board of Directors Minutes, October 5, 1915, Nashville Public Library Archives, Metropolitan Government Archives, hereafter cited as Metro Archives.

51. Nashville Public Library Board of Directors Minutes, November 2, 1915, and December 7, 1915, Metro Archives. Hadley's first name appears in some records as "Marion."

52. "Negro Public Library of Nashville," n.d., Metro Archives.

53. "Carnegie Library's Anniversary Celebration," Nashville Globe, March 2, 1917, 1.

54. Carrie R. Hull & Linda T. Wynn, "Blue Triangle YWCA (1919-1974)," in Bobby L. Lovett & Linda T. Wynn, eds., Profiles of African Americans in Tennessee (Nashville, TN: Annual Local Conference on Afro-American Culture and History, Tennessee State University, 1996), http://www.tnstate.edu/library/digi-tal/Blue.htm

55. Negro Public Library Finance Book, Metro Archives.

56. Board of Directors Minutes, March 5, 1918, June 4, 1920, and January 4, 1921, Metro Archives.

57. Maria M. [sic] Hadley, "Special Pictures for Colored Children," Library/Journal 47 (November 1, 1922): 922.