Vivian Gordon Harsh and the Chicago Public Library

Vivian Gordon Harsh (1890-1960), a native of Chicago, Illinois, was the first African American librarian to work at the Chicago Public Library. Ms. Harsh began her career at the Chicago Public Library in 1909 as a clerk, and in 1924, began working at the library as a librarian. She studied library science at Simmons College and the University of Chicago. 

In 1932, the Chicago Public Library built the George Cleveland Hall Branch. This was the first branch in the system that was located in an African American neighborhood. Harsh served as the branch's manager. Charlemae Hill Rollins, another African American librarian, served as the head of the branch's children's department. Ms. Harsh remained at the Chicago Public Library until her retirement in 1958. Ms. Harsh passed away in 1960.

See related post: Charlemae Hill Rollins and the Chicago Public Library.

Sources: Joyce, Donald Franklin. "Vivian Gordon Harsh Collection of Afro-American History and Literature, Chicago Public Library." Library Quarterly 58.1 (1988): 67-74. Print. ; "Black History Prophets and Custodians: Handful of Men and Women Created Foundations of Saga of Persistence and Creativity." Ebony 50.4 (1995): 90. Print. ; Harris, Kathryn M. "Generations of Pride: African American Timeline: A Selected Chronology." Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library. Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2010. ; Shaw, Spencer G. "Not What You Get, But What You Give." The Black Librarian in America. Ed. E.J. Josey. Metuchen: Scarecrow, 1970. 153. Print. ; Garner, Carla W. "Harsh, Vivian Gordon (1890-1960)." BlackPast.org. BlackPast.org, n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2011. ; Bobinski, George S. Libraries and Librarianship: Sixty Years of Challenge and Change, 1945-2005. Lanham: Scarecrow, 2007. 99. Print.

Rev. B. C. Duke and the Tennessee Town Library (Topeka, Kansas)

Rev. B.C. Duke was the earliest known African American librarian in Topeka, Kansas. He was the librarian for the Tennessee Town Library which was housed in a tavern owned by Andrew Jordan. Rev. Duke came to Kansas from Tennessee in 1887. Tennessee Town is a neighborhood in Topeka that was settled by freed slaves from Tennessee who were part of the Exodusters Movement.

Sources: Cox, Thomas C. Blacks in Topeka, Kansas, 1865-1915: A Social History. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State U P, 1982. 146-147. Print. ; Tennessee Town, Topeka, Kansas Neighborhood Plan: An Element of the Comprehensive Metropolitan Plan 2025, City of Topeka-Shawnee County, Kansas. Topeka: Tennessee Town Neighborhood Improvement Assoc. & Topeka-Shawnee County Metropolitan Planning Dept., 2001. 32-33. Print.

The Bethel Historical and Literary Association

The Bethel Historical and Literary Association, a literary society for African Americans, was founded in 1881 by Daniel A. Payne in Washington, D.C. The society met at Bethal Hall, a building owned by the Metropolitan A.M.E. Church. Members of the Bethel Historical and Literary Association met to discuss literature and issues of  interest and importance to African Americans. Meetings often included guest lecturers and speakers. Notable speakers included:

Frederick Douglas

Ida B. Wells Barnett

John Mercer Langston

Archibald H. Grimke

Richard Greener

Charles W. Chesnutt

John W. Cromwell

Mary Church Terrell


Note: Mary Church Terrell, an 1884 graduate of Oberlin College and a professor at Wilberforce College (now Wilberforce University), became the society's first female president in 1892.

See related posts: John Edward Bruce: Ex-Slave, Bibliophile, Historian, and Journalist and Arthur Alfonso-Schomburg, 1874-1938: Noted Bibliophile, Collector, Curator, and Scholar.

Sources: McHenry, Elizabeth. Forgotten Readers: Recovering the Lost History of African American Literary Societies. Durham: Duke U P, 2002. 149-165. Print. ; Albritton, Rosie L. "The Founding & Prevelance of African-American Social Libraries & Historical Societies, 1828-1918." Untold Stories: Civil Rights, Libraries, and Black Librarianship. Ed. John Mark Tucker. Champaign: U of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1998. 35. Print. ; Sinnette, Elinor D.V. Arthur Alfonso Schomburg, Black Bibliophile & Collector: A Biography. New York: New York Public Library, 1989. 51. Print. ; "Emancipation Meetings." Crisis 5.5 (Mar. 1913): 243-244. Print. ; Des Jardines, Julie. Women and the Historical Enterprise of America: Gender, Race, and the Politics of Memory, 1880-1945. Chapel Hill, NC: U of North Carolina, 2003. 120-121. Print.

North Carolina Negro Library Association

The North Carolina Negro Library Association was founded in 1934 by Mollie Huston Lee. The association provided support and professional networking for African American librarians in North Carolina. In 1943, the North Carolina Negro Library Association became a chapter of the American Library Association. The organization merged with the North Carolina Library Association in 1955.

Update 11/06/2012:

The North Carolina Negro Library Association had its own publication, Library Service Review. Albert P. Marshall served as the publication's first editor (at that time, Mr. Marshall worked at Winston-Salem Teachers College -- now called Winston-Salem State University). Members of the editorial board included Mollie Huston Lee, Constance Hill Marteena, Nell Wright (later Nell Wright Alford), Anne Robinson, Ester F. Smith, and Ann Johnson. Benjamin F. Smith of the North Carolina College Library School (now the North Carolina Central University School of Library and Information Science) was the publication's business and circulation manager.

Past presidents of the North Carolina Negro Library Association included Constance Hill Marteena, Thelma Nelson, Joyce McClendon, and Mollie Huston Lee.

Update 12/09/2012:
See related post: Constance Hill Marteena: Hampton Institute Library School Graduate and President of the North Carolina Negro Library Association.

Update 12/11/2012:
Mary Hairston of the George Moses Horton Branch of the Forsyth County Public Library (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) chaired the committee responsible for compiling the handbook for the North Carolina Negro Library Association (the handbook was published in 1940).
See: Lee, Mollie Huston. "Development of Negro Libraries in North Carolina." North Carolina Libraries 3.2 (1944): 1-3, 7. Print. 
 
See related post:
George Moses Horton Branch of the Forsyth County Public Library (Winston-Salem, North Carolina).

Update 2/26/2013:
Johnson C. Smith University (Charlotte, North Carolina) has in its digital collection a group photo of the attendees of the 1955 Conference of the North Carolina Negro Library Association:

http://cdm15170.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15170coll3/id/99

Update 04/13/2013:
See related post: Annette Hoage Phinazee: Dean, Professor, Author, and Librarian.

Sources: Marshall, Albert P. "North Carolina Negro Library Association." Handbook of Black Librarianship. Ed. E.J. Josey and Marva L. DeLoach. 2nd ed. Lanham: Scarecrow, 2000. 63-68. Print. ; Speller, Benjamin F. and James R. Jarrell. "Profiles of Pioneers: Selected North Carolina Black Librarians." The Black Librarian in the Southeast: Reminiscences, Activities, Challenges. Ed. Annette L. Phinazee. Durham: NCCU School of Library Science, 1980. 74-75, 78, 80. Print. ; Valentine, Patrick. "Mollie Huston Lee: Founder of Raleigh's Black Public Library." North Carolina Libraries 56.1 (1998): 23-26. Print. ; "Lee, Mollie Huston (1907-1982)." Black America: A State-by-State Historical Encyclopedia. Ed. Alton Hornsby, Jr. Vol. I. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Greenwood, 2011. 613-614. Print. ; Library Service Review 1.1 (1948); Library Service Review 1.2 (1948).

Marcus Bruce Christian (1900-1976), Louisiana Librarian

Marcus Bruce Christian (1900-1976) was assistant librarian at Dillard University from 1944-1950. Mr. Christian, a native of Mechanicsville, Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, was the son of Emanuel Banks Christian and Ruth Harris Christian. As a child, Mr. Christian attended school at the Houma Academy.

In addition to his work as a librarian, Mr. Christian was also a poet and author. In 1936, Christian joined the Federal Writers Project. This program was part of the Work Progress Administration (also known as WPA; later as the Works Project Administration) and was charged with providing jobs for authors, historians, and educators. Christian was assigned to the Louisiana Writers Project (LWP), the Louisiana section of the Federal Writers Project. He spent six years with the LWP, working on the history African Americans in Louisiana. His work on the project was done at Dillard University in New Orleans, Louisiana.

In 1943, Christian received a fellowship from the Rosenwald Fund* to study African American history. In 1944, he began his library career at Dillard University. Christian also published pieces in The Crisis, Phylon, Opportunity, New York Herald Tribune, Pittsburgh Courier, and in the Louisiana Weekly (he served as editor). He was a contemporary of Arna Wendell Bontemps and Langston Hughes.

Christian's works included:

From the Deep South (1937)
  
In Memoriam, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Thirty-Second President of the United States of America, Who Died Thursday, April Twelfth, Nineteen Forty-Five (1945)

Common People's Manifesto of World War II (1948)

High Ground: A Collection of Poems Published in Commemoration of the United States Supreme Court's Decision of May 17, 1954, and Its Final Decree of May 31, 1955, Abolishing Racial Segregation in the Nation's Public Schools (1958)

Negro Soldiers in the Battle of New Orleans (1965)

Negro Ironworkers of Louisiana, 1718-1900 (1972)

I Am New Orleans and Other Poems (1999 -- published posthumously)


In his later years, Christian taught history at the University of New Orleans. Mr. Christian passed away on November 21, 1976. His papers are housed in the Louisiana and Special Collections Department of the Earl K. Long Library at the University of New Orleans.


*Note: The Rosenwald Fund was founded in 1917 by Julius Rosenwald (1862-1932), an executive of Sears, Roebuck, and Company.  The Rosenwald Fund provided money to build schools (known as the "Rosenwald Schools), and provided aid to colleges and universities, libraries, museums, and other institutions. In addition, the Rosenwald Fund paid for African Americans to attend the First Negro Library Conference in 1927 at the Hampton Institute (now Hampton University) and to receive training in 1930 at the Summer Librarian Institute at Spelman College.

See related posts: Dryades Branch of the New Orleans Public Library (New Orleans, Louisiana) : A Colored Carnegie Library ; Arna Wendell Bontemps: Fisk University Librarian, Poet, and Author ; and Arthur Alfonso Schomburg, 1874-1938: Noted Bibliophile, Collector, Curator, and Scholar.


Sources: Mizell-Nelson, Michael. "Marcus Bruce Christian." Harlem Renaissance Lives from the African American National Biography. Ed. Henry Louis Gates and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. New York: Oxford U P, 2009. 115-116. Print. ; Hessler, Marilyn S. "Marcus Christian: The Man and His Collection." Louisiana History 28.1 (1987): 37-55. Print. ; "Marcus Bruce Christian." Black Librarians Table. Chicken Bones: A Journal for Literary & Artistic African American Themes, n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2010. ; Redding, Joan. "The Dillard Project: The Black Unit of the Louisiana Writers' Project." Louisiana History 32.1 (1991): 47-62. Print. ; Johnson, Jerah. "Marcus B. Christian and the WPA History of Black People in Louisiana." Louisiana History 20.1 (1979): 113-115. Print. ; Dalin, David G. (1998). "What Julius Rosenwald Knew." Commentary 105.4 (1998): 36-39. Print.; Fenton, Michele T. "Stepping Out on Faith: Lillian Haydon Childress Hall, Pioneer Black Librarian." Indiana Libraries 33.1 (2014): 6. Print. ; Curtis, Florence Rising. "Colored Librarians in Conference." Library Journal 52.8 (1927): 408. Print. ; "Personal." Library Occurrent 8.2 (1927): 66. Print. ; "Library Institute for Negro Librarians." Library Journal 55.18 (1930): 932. Print.





 

Librarian Education: Eliza Atkins Gleason, First African American to Earn PhD in Library Science

Eliza Atkins Gleason, an alumna of Fisk University, became the first dean of the library school at Atlanta University (now Clark-Atlanta University) in 1941. She was also the first African American to earn a PhD in library science, which she earned from the University of Chicago in 1940 (her dissertation was published in 1941 as the book, The Southern Negro and the Public Library). Before coming to Atlanta University, Ms. Gleason was a librarian at Fisk University and at the Louisville Municipal College for Negroes (now Simmons College of Kentucky), and served as library director at Talladega College (Alabama) from 1940-1941.

A native of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Ms. Gleason was born December 15, 1909 to Simon Green Atkins and Oleona Pegram Atkins. Both of Ms. Gleason's parents were educators (her mother was an alumna of Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee; her father an alumnus of St. Augustine's College in Raleigh, North Carolina). Winston-Salem State University was founded by Ms. Gleason's father in 1892 (the school was formerly known as Slater Industrial Academy).

After graduating high school, Ms. Gleason attended Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. She graduated in 1930. A year later, she received her Bachelor of Library Science (BLS) from the University of Illinois. In 1935, she received a master's degree in library science from the University of California-Berkley. In 1937, she became the wife of Dr. Maurice Gleason.

Ms. Gleason was appointed dean of the Atlanta University Library School in 1941. She remained at the Atlanta University Library School until 1946. After leaving Atlanta, Georgia, she relocated to Chicago, Illinois and worked at Chicago Teachers College, Woodrow Wilson Junior College, Illinois Teachers College, John Crerar Library, Illinois Institute of Technology, and the Chicago Public Library. Ms. Gleason also was a guest lecturer at the University of Chicago and a library science professor at Northern Illinois University.

After many years of service in the library profession, Ms. Gleason passed away at the age of 100 on December 15, 2009 in Louisville, Kentucky. In 2010, she was inducted into the University of Louisville College of Arts and Sciences Hall of Honor.  The Eliza Atkins Gleason Book Award is named in her honor and is given by the American Library Association's Library History Round Table to recognize books written on the subject of library history.

*Notes:

Ms. Gleason was not the only librarian in her family. Her sister, Ollie Atkins Carpenter, was a 1927 graduate of the Hampton Institute Library School in Hampton,Virginia (Hampton Institute is now Hampton University). Ms. Carpenter was also the library school's first graduate to work in Kentucky when she became librarian at the Louisville Municipal College for Negroes. In addition, Ms. Carpenter was also a librarian at Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama (the school is now Tuskegee University); at Summer High School in St. Louis, Missouri; and at the University of Maryland.

On YouTube, there is a video of Eliza Atkins Gleason's induction into the University of Louisville College of Arts and Sciences Hall of Honor: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2uEwkNiR60 .

Established in 1941, the library school at Atlanta University (now Clark-Atlanta University) remained in operation for 64 years before closing its doors in 2005.

Update 02/03/2013:

Legacy.com has a copy of Ms. Gleason's obituary from The Winston-Salem Journal: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/winstonsalem/obituary.aspx?pid=137723460#fbLoggedOut


See related posts: Virginia Lacy Jones: Second African American to Earn PhD in Library Science and Annette Hoage Phinazee: Dean, Professor, Author, and Librarian.

Sources: Woodson, Almeta Gould. "Fifty Years of Service: A Chronological History of the School of Library Service Atlanta University, 1941-1979; the School of Library and Information Studies Atlanta University, 1979-1989; the School of Library and Information Studies, Clark Atlanta University, 1989-1991." Georgia Librarian 28.3 (1991):71-72, 78. Print. ; Jordan, Casper and E.J. Josey. "A Chronology of Events in Black Librarianship." Handbook of Black Librarianship. Ed. E.J. Josey and Marva L. DeLoach. 2nd ed. Lanham: Scarecrow, 2000. 7. Print. ; Dawson, Alma. "Celebrating African American Librarians and Librarianship." Library Trends 49.1 (2000): 58. Print. ; Totten, Herman L. "Southeastern Black Educators." The Black Librarian in the Southeast: Reminiscences, Activities, Challenges. Ed. Annette L. Phinazee. Durham: NCCU School of Library Science, 1980. 202. Print. ; "Eliza Atkins Gleason." Courier Journal (Louisville, Ky.). Courier Journal (Louisville, Ky.), 21 Dec. 2009. Web. 5 Jan. 2011. ; Freightman, Connie Green. "Historically Black College Closes its Library Studies Program." Crisis 112.1 (2005): 10. Print. ; A Directory of Negro Graduates of Accredited Library Schools, 1900-1936. Washington: Columbia Civic Library Association, 1937. 6, 8. Print. ; "Eliza Atkins Gleason." College of Arts and Sciences, Hall of Honor. University of Louisville, n.d. Web. 1. Feb. 2011. ; "Death Notice: Eliza Atkins Gleason." Chicago Tribune News(Online). Chicago Tribune News, 25 Jan. 2010. Web. 2 Feb. 2013. ; Jones, Reinette F. Library Service to African Americans in Kentucky, from the Reconstruction Era to the 1960s. Jefferson: McFarland, 2002. 32, 82, 84, 90, 94-95, 161, 163. Print. ; DeLoach, Marva L. "Black Academic Libraries." Handbook of Black Librarianship. Ed. E.J. Josey and Marva L. DeLoach. 2nd ed. Lanham: Scarecrow, 2000. 413, 419. Print. ; "Eliza Atkins Gleason Book Award." American Library Association. American Library Association, 2013. Web. 3 Feb. 2013. ; Josey, E.J. "Gleason, Eliza Atkins." World Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences. Ed. Robert Wedgeworth. 3rd ed. Chicago: American Library Association, 1993. 325-326. Print. ; "Atlanta University." The Crisis 48.5(1941): 148. Print. ; Freightman, Connie Green. "Historically Black College Closes Its Library Studies Program." The Crisis 112.1 (2005): 10. Print. ; "Gleason, Eliza Valeria Atkins." Biographical Dictionary of Modern American Educators. Ed.  Frederik Ohles, Shirley M. Ohles, and John G. Ramsay. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1997. 132-133.Print.

Librarian Education: Louisville Free Public Library

Rev. Thomas Fountain Blue (1866-1935), head of the Colored Libraries of the Louisville Free Public Library, instituted a library training program for African Americans at the Western Colored Branch of the Louisville Free Public Library in Louisville, Kentucky in 1912. At the time the program was established, there were no schools available in the South to train African American library workers. The training program remained in operation until 1931.

Update 03/09/2013:

Fannie C. Porter, the first African American librarian to work for the Evansville-Vanderburgh County Public Library (Evansville, Indiana), was a student in Rev. Blue's training program. Ms. Porter attended the program during the summer of 1914. During her tenure at the Evansville-Vanderburgh County Public Library, Ms. Porter worked as an assistant librarian at the West Branch (1914) and later served as the first branch manager for the Cherry Street Branch (1914-1915). She left the Evansville-Vanderburgh County Public Library in April 1915.

Note: The Cherry Street Branch, the third Carnegie library built in Evansville, Indiana, provided services to African Americans from 1914 until its closure in 1954.

Update 03/25/2013:

Mattie Herd Roland, the first African American librarian in Alabama, was a student in the Rev. Blue's training program. She attended the program during the summer of 1918 and was appointed head of the Booker T. Washington Branch of the Birmingham Public Library the same year. The Booker T. Washington Branch provided library services to Birmingham's African American residents. It became the Smithfield Branch of the Birmingham Public Library in 1956.


See related posts: Rev. Thomas Fountain Blue and the Colored Branches of the Louisville Free Public Library ; Fannie C. Porter and the Evansville-Vanderburgh County Public Library ; Article on Evansville, Indiana's Former African American Library Branch ; and Mattie Herd Roland and the Booker T. Washington Branch Library (Birmingham, AL).

Sources: Spradling, Mary Mace. "Black Librarians in Kentucky." The Black Librarian in the Southeast: Reminiscences, Activities, Challenges. Ed. Annette L. Phinazee. Durham: NCCU School of Library Science, 1980. 40. Print. ; Jones, Reinette F. Library Services to African Americans in Kentucky: From the Reconstruction Era to the 1960s. Jefferson: McFarland, 2006. 53-55. Print. ; Jordan, Casper LeRoy. "African American  Forerunners in Librarianship." Handbook of Black Librarianship. Ed. E. J. Josey and Marva L. DeLoach. 2nd ed. Lanham: Scarecrow, 2000. 28-29. Print. ; Du Mont, Rosemary Ruhig and William Caynon. "Education of Black Librarians." Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science. Ed. Allen Kent. Vol. 45, suppl. 10. New York: Marcel Dekker, 1990. 111. Print. ; Blue, Thomas F. "Work with the Negro Round Table." The Southern Workman 51.9 (1922): 437-438. Print. ; "Louisville." Library Occurrent 6.2 (1921): 80-81. Print. ; Brown, Beatrice S. Louisville's Historic Black Neighborhoods. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2012. 104. Print. ; Librarianship in Gilded Age America: An Anthology of Writings, 1868-1901. Ed. Leonard Schlup and Stephen H. Pascen. Jefferson: McFarland, 2009. 322.Print. ; Potter, Joan. African American Firsts: Famous, Little Known, and Unsung Triumphs of Blacks in America. New York: Kensington, 2009. 34. Print. ; Blue, Thomas F. "A Successful Library Experiment." Opportunity 2.20 (1924): 244-246. Print. ; "American Library Association." The Southern Workman 55.11 (1926):486. Print.

Librarian Education: Spelman College

In 1930, the Southeastern Library Association held a six-week summer course to train African Americans to work in public libraries in the South. The course was funded by the Rosenwald Fund and held on the campus of Spelman College from June 14th until July 25th. A total of thirty-five students participated in the course.

Rachel Davis Harris (1869-1969), the first African American female director of the Colored Branches of the Louisville Free Public Library in Louisville, Kentucky, was an instructor for the program.

Note: The Rosenwald Fund was founded by Julius Rosenwald (1862-1932) of Sears, Roebuck, and Company. Rosenwald also helped provide funding to enable African American librarians to attend the First Negro Library Conference which was held March 15-18, 1927 at the Hampton Institute (now Hampton University) in Hampton, Virginia. In addition, Rosenwald provided funds to help organize libraries and schools ("Rosenwald Schools") for African Americans.

Sources: "Library Institute for Negro Librarians." Library Journal 55.18 (1930): 932. Print. ; Campbell, Lucy B. "Black Librarians in Virginia." The Black Librarian in the Southeast: Reminiscences, Activities, and Challenges. Ed. Annette L. Phinazee. Durham: NCCU School of Library Science, 1980. 134. Print. ; "Personals." Library Occurrent 8.2 (1927): 66. Print. ; Dalin, David G. "What Julius Rosenwald Knew." Commentary 105.4 (1998): 36-39. Print. ; Jones, Reinette F. Library Service to African Americans in Kentucky, from the Reconstruction Era to the 1960s. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2002. 22, 32, 35, 59, 62, 69, 71, 82, 85-86, 88-90, 96-97. Print. ; Curtis, Florence Rising. "Colored Librarians in Conference." Library Journal 52.8 (1927): 408. Print. ; Fenton, Michele T. "Stepping Out on Faith: Lillian Haydon Childress Hall, Pioneer Black Librarian." Indiana Libraries 33.1 (2014): 6. Print.