Books, Boots & Bridles: The Packhorse Librarians
If you liked Jojo Moyes' The Giver of Stars, you'll LOVE this program TODAY at 2pm (ET)!
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During the Great Depression, this Works Progress Administration New Deal program brought books to eager readers in the far corners of Appalachia. FDR Library Education Specialist Jeffrey Urbin shares the story of FDR's Pack Horse Library initiative and the Pack Horse Librarians of Appalachia, carried out almost entirely by women. LIVE Q&A to follow!
Pack Horse Librarians, WPA records, 1/11/1938, FDR Library, NARA ID 48728414.
"Booneville, Owsley County, KY. Pack Horse Librarian returning of the mountain side for a new supply of books to be distributed to rural and isolated sections of the county." NARA ID 148728410.
In 1936, packhorse librarians served 50,000 families, and, by 1937, 155 public schools. Children loved the program; many mountain schools didn't have libraries, and since they were so far from public libraries, most students had never checked out a book. "'Bring me a book to read,' is the cry of every child as he runs to meet the librarian with whom he has become acquainted," wrote one Pack Horse Library supervisor. "Not a certain book, but any kind of book. The child has read none of them."--from story by Eliza McGraw.
Pack Horse Librarian Delivering Books to Children, 1/11/1938, WPA records, FDR Library, NARA ID 148728416.
Original Caption: "Mill Creek, Knott County, KY. Completing her mission at a lonely mountain cabin, the Pack Horse Librarian turns up the trail toward similar cabins where she is anxiously awaited" 1/11/1938, NARA ID 148728424.
Horse-Riding Librarians Were the Great Depression’s Bookmobiles, Smithsonianmag.com story by Eliza McGraw.
The Pack Horse Librarians Of Eastern Kentucky, NPR interview with then-97-year-old former pack horse librarian.
The Women Who Rode Miles on Horseback to Deliver Library Books: Librarians are amazing, Atlas Obscura story by Anika Burgess.
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