Early black librarian’s efforts recalled

Bob Cox suggested this.
courier-journal.com has a Nice Story on Thomas Fountain Blue Sr., the first librarian of the old Western Colored branch of the Louisville Free Public Library in 1905, he was the only black librarian in the country at a library with an all-black staff.

\”EDUCATION WAS everything to him,\” Hutchins said. \”It was always most important.\” The free presentation is one of five programs planned this fall at branch libraries. The programs are designed to preview The Encyclopedia of Louisville, which the University Press of Kentucky plans to publish in October.

Bob Cox suggested this.
courier-journal.com has a Nice Story on Thomas Fountain Blue Sr., the first librarian of the old Western Colored branch of the Louisville Free Public Library in 1905, he was the only black librarian in the country at a library with an all-black staff.

\”EDUCATION WAS everything to him,\” Hutchins said. \”It was always most important.\” The free presentation is one of five programs planned this fall at branch libraries. The programs are designed to preview The Encyclopedia of Louisville, which the University Press of Kentucky plans to publish in October.More from The Courier Journal

\”Hutchins, who organizes tours of historic sites, plans to discuss the items in his virtual capsule. \”There will be books, diplomas, writings — things that would have been important to Blue,\” Hutchins said.

He said research confirms that Blue was the first black librarian in the nation at a library with no white staff.

\”We\’re absolutely sure of that,\” Hutchins said. \”Sometimes people say the Western branch was the first black library in the country. That\’s not exactly right.\”

He said his research also indicated that Blue, who lived from 1866 to 1935, had a lifelong determination to improve himself and others.