Librarians on Horseback
The Pack Horse Library Project was initiated in 1935 to provide reading materials to Kentucky residents lacking access to libraries. Librarians created handmade scrapbooks to meet the high demand for books and to salvage unusable items. This initiative not only shared information but also encouraged community members to contribute their own knowledge and creations.
- ▪Over 60 percent of Kentucky’s population had no access to libraries in 1935.
- ▪The Pack Horse Library Project was a New Deal program aimed at providing reading materials to rural residents.
- ▪Librarians salvaged unusable items by creating scrapbooks tailored to community interests.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
In 1935, over 60 percent of Kentucky’s population had no access to libraries. Enter the Pack Horse Library Project, a New Deal program that put reading material, including handmade scrapbooks filled with parts of books, magazines, and pamphlets, into the hands of local residents. As Kirsten Chervenak reports for Oxford American, the project was a critical way to share information among people with limited resources living in rural areas of the state. Many donated items were old or in disrepair. Magazines in particular were worn, with pieces or whole pages torn out. In response to inadequate funding and such high demand for books, librarians tried to avoid throwing anything away. Rather, they salvaged unusable items by creating scrapbooks.
…
Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Longreads.
Discussion
0 commentsMore from Longreads
