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An Overview
The Bible is itself a library. During the Middle
Ages it was commonly called, first "The Divine
Library" and then "The Library" (Bibliotheca) in
the same exclusive sense that it is now known as "The
Book" (Biblia as Latin singular). Even the word Bible
itself is historically "Library" rather then
"Book" for it was originally the neuter Biblia
"The Books," although now made by violence into a
Latin feminine singular, and "the books," i.e., books
collectively, is a natural and common name for library.
Bible as
Library
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David Ruggles
(1810-1849),
born in Norwich, Connecticut, is probably the first known
African-American book collector. He was was known for his
intimate knowledge of law as it related to cases of formerly
enslaved escapees on the Underground Railroad. Black
Librarians
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It is difficult to overestimate the significance of this
Bibliography to all students of the Negro and of interracial
problems. During recent weeks I have personally had several
examples of its need and value. A graduate student at a southern
university wrote me asking information regarding books dealing
with the Negro and crime. Chapter XXXIV, Section 1-3, gives the
student a key to this whole difficult field. Similarly, another
correspondent wished information regarding the segregation of
the Negro in public places in American cities. Chapter XXXIII,
Section 4, gives him all essential facts regarding the racial
characteristics of the Negro, as shown both in Africa and the
United States. Chapter XXXVIII, supplemented by Chapter XXVII,
will make it possible for him to pursue his inquiries
intelligently. Scores of questions such as those mentioned can
be answered in a competent way only by the use of this work.
Significance of the Bibliography
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Table
The vast generosity of Mr. Carnegie to literature
and scholarship—for the library is the storehouse of literature
and the open door to scholarship—is not a matter of impulse and
did not take its rise in suggestion from without. Love of poetry and
learning came to him by inheritance. His youth knew the spell and
the inspiration of Burns and Shakespeare and those noble old ballads
in which the idealism, the passion, and the tragedy of the Scottish
found such moving and dramatic expression.
Andrew
Carnegie
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It is a correlative of
the Carnegie Foundation and of the Carnegie Institution,
each doing altruistic work in its separate field. Up to
the year 1907 Mr. Carnegie's library gifts had provided
for 1636 library buildings, covering grants of
$44,545,742 -- 1014, representing $32,734,267, in the
United States, and the others dotted over England,
Wales, and Scotland, Canada, South Africa, and other
parts of the English-speaking world. A decade later, up
to 1917, the total grants promised by Mr. Carnegie
personally, and by the Carnegie Corporation, had
provided for 2865 buildings amounting to $65,069,684.44,
in itself an enormous fortune. It would be unfair not to
recognize at this writing the part of Mr. James Bertram,
first, as Mr. Carnegie's personal secretary for library
purposes, and later as secretary of the Carnegie
Corporation, and as the general channel of Mr.
Carnegie's library generosity.
Carnegie & Method of Giving
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"It has been my good fortune,"
said President Taft, at the dedication of the Carnegie Library of
Howard University, "to stand with Mr. Carnegie and to speak
with him from the same platform at Tuskegee, at Hampton, and here,
and to hear his accents of encouragement to the colored race and
his wise advice to them as to the necessity for education on their
part, and as to the
obligation of each individual of the race to remember that in all
his conduct he is a representative, and on trial. Mr. Carnegie was
absent a year ago when we founded this library. I was glad, on the
occasion of the laying of the cornerstone, for the moment to
officiate in his place and to feel as a great millionaire
benefactor feels." Tuskegee
Library and Carnegie
The Black Caucus of
the American Library Association serves as an
advocate for the development, promotion, and
improvement of library services and resources to the
nation's African American community; and provides
leadership for the recruitment and professional
development of African American librarians.
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updated 6 October 2007 / updated 15
April 2008 |
