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Letter to Mr. W.J. Trent, Secretary, YMCA, Atlanta, GA, Jan. 29, 1917 from George T. Settle, Librarian, Louisville Free Public Library. Re: Establishment of colored branches. American Liberty League. 400dpi TIFF G4 page images Digital Library Services, University of Kentucky Libraries Lexington, Kentucky LFP_rblue_03_04_01 These pages may freely searched and displayed. Permission must be received for subsequent distribution in print or electronically. Letter to Mr. W.J. Trent, Secretary, YMCA, Atlanta, GA, Jan. 29, 1917 from George T. Settle, Librarian, Louisville Free Public Library. Re: Establishment of colored branches. American Liberty League. unknown unknown 1917-01-29 Is Part of the Reverend Thomas F. Blue Papers, ca. 1905-1935 housed at the Louisville Free Public Library, Louisville, KY. This electronic text file was created by Optical Character Recognition (OCR). No corrections have been made to the OCR-ed text and no editing has been done to the content of the original document. Encoding has been done through an automated process using the recommendations for Level 1 of the TEI in Libraries Guidelines. Digital page images are linked to the text file. Jmnary 29, 1917 Trent, lily, "Toting Ken1 s Cht Colored Men** !Jgra$cl& AtlantSt, Ga# ^ Association, ?re* TVblie library,' hae been referre tem. Tt iray help you in answering cueetlon© to rt history of the Louisville Library syB- Louisvill* received from ~rr. Andrew Car-in 1902 f25QfOOG. for a min library buildin*? iil later an additional $ift of $2001000. for approximately eight branch building*. Theee donations mete nade viih the condition that toe city furnish ♦iter for the building* and appropriate aot less than 10S each v~aT for maintenance. When thio money v*as appropriated the Board of Ttttstee* decided to hare a separate buildln&:*ith d ^ifldflrp • rid er t :.i r-ide library buiidingpi for thl v reason should have separata Tke history Of the colored libraries in LouieYille has pmyen the wisdom of thle decision. Immediately after the opening of the Main library in 1905, a colored branch library vae opened in rented quarter* and stepa taken to purchase a eite and ereot a Carnegie building* •. Th* first building for colored readers vue, erected in l$&5 at a cost of $47#410.64# The cost ^f the building, $30,935.33, paid for out of G*m*?J it Mr. J, Trent #2 funds but tile site, furniture, books« etc. out of the city library fund. This building was erected on thp| corner of Tenth and Chestnut Streets in the &&ter of? tfee colored population. It ir within a half block of ttie Colored Y.K.C+A. and several church buildings of different denomination** treets in ..ae oSmM It ha* & library room on thejpTirst floor with shelving, tables, etc. to accommodate 10^000 volumG^^^fe I^^si^rian1 * office, and an assembly room to seat 350 P«jm*o*?b. The baseiafttt which ie high and splend-f^^. 1irI11ed and ventilated has three large class rooms, cloak Jroom, engine room and play room for use of chil d^Sw the vinter months. An experimental garden is obnduOTed in the ,fLi1 of the building and arrangerceni* are Swer way to equip the playground in the rear. ■The site of the western Colored Branch cost ♦^11^^00 and was paid for out of city funds. The cost of tfcjpsit* for the Eastern Colored Branch was £5,000., flMOO* of which was donated by the citizens in the neighborhood and the balance paid out of the city library fund. The Eastern Colored Branch plant cost* was taid for out of The anches are conducted ae other ; branches of the Louisville Free Public Library under the direction of the Chief librarian and the Library Board with Tho«a* T\ Blue as Branch Librarian in charge of both, ifcith a splendidly trained chore of assistants* Te conduct in connection v ith the colored branches a training class for those who wish to enter library work.* An examination is held in June after the close of school and the class .begins work about the first of September and covers a period of fifteen weeks The applicant must be a resident of the City of Louisville, over 18 and under 35 years of age, with a full Mrpw. J. Trent f3 four year's high school education or its equivale$ e||ter the examination for the class. The class is under the direction of Kr# Blue assisted by the Chief Librarian and heads of departments. In addition to training the assistants in our library and the substitute© use, »ve have prepared young women to take c&arge of colored branch libraries in several cities, *_Eend ejrson * Kashville. young 'woman from Atlant|^p^|alflf charge of the colqp«^ branch there« ;:lm.:3^&:oo^td talk with t&M: higli^^i%o#l and ward school principals and teaeKers, miniFteriS| andther educator© izl Louisville as to how our colored ©good work, that they are id whit' we have done for th branches are conducted,^ doing for the community, other cities, I ear sure that you would agree with us that this training is necessary. You see from this that the city appropriated all funds necessary for the purchase of sites, erection of buildings, equipment, maintenance, with the exception of the amount of money from the Carnegie fund and #lfOGO. raised by colored citizens. It may be of interest to you to know that the colored eitisens in the w % s I refer you to the Library Journal of December 1915, Southern Workman of October 191* July 1915 for articles on colored library work in Louis-ville. I would also refer you to an article by Krs. Karris, an assistant at the Eastern Colored Branch Library, in the Library Journal for April 1910* 1 aan enclosing a booklet issued to mark the tenth anniversary of the opening of the firfet colored branch librar in America exclusively for colored readerfc* J &y recommendation is not to divide library funds to be handled by two boards but to conduct J. Trent #4 separate libraries fot vhita and colored readers managed by one Board. This makes the admlnietr£$i#n more econoir. icil and give*? th? entire system the fame supervision. I ?fould refer you ie $ny gentleman whose name appears in the booklet enclosed f^r a statement of *&ajyfe* thinks \ are conducted in Louis- ox W 1 Wm * lored branche "■?If to hear from I caa|";;%#lp you. you lie j shall be pleased Youre very truly, Librarian GY3/fc Kncla