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UofL Libraries & Collections

Louisville Free Public Library collection

Collection : Louisville Free Public Library collection
Date/Extent : ca. 1900-ca. 1969, 682 items
Description : The collection consists of approximately 630 photographs by various photographers showing historical views of the library, its employees, and their activities. Included are photographs of the library’s original location in the Kaufman-Strauss building, historical views of the 1902 Carnegie main library, various branch libraries, employees and their activities, as well as libraries maintained by the Louisville Free Public Library in factories and retail stores. Particularly notable are photographs of the Louisville Orchestra in the late 1940s with conductor Robert Whitney (see also Robert Whitney papers) at the library's recording studio, and views of activities at the Western Branch, a segregated library which was also home of the first training program in the United States for African American librarians.
Repository : Photographic Archives

  
Librarian Thomas Blue on the steps of the segregated Western Branch of the Louisville Free Public Library in 1927. (Staff, Colored Department [Western Branch], 1927 Back Row - Left to Right, Cooper, McIntire, Blue, Pierce; Front Row - Left to Right, Price, Harris, McIntyre, Brooks, Crowell.) Blue developed the nation's first training program for African American librarians here.

Library Day at Louisville Cotton Mills, ca. 1925. Louisville Free Public Library established branches at factories and shops throughout the city.