“Book woman, give me a book.”
That was what the packhorse librarians often heard when they rode up to a schoolhouse on their horse or mule with their saddlebags or sometimes gunnysacks full of library books. Many of the mountain children had little access to books and it was exciting to get something new and different to read.
The packhorse library project was part of the WPA programs during the Great Depression in the 1930’s. WPA workers built hundreds of schools, health clinics, roads, park facilities, and community centers, but such building projects were “men’s work” and not jobs a woman would be considered for in the 1930s. The problem was that while it was good to put men to work, by the the mid 1930’s, many women were heading up households for various reasons.
To keep these women off the relief rolls, jobs were created in health services, school lunch programs, sewing projects and libraries. The WPA project enabled some poor districts to have library services for the first time, but they had to come up with unique ways to get the books to the people in areas like the Eastern Kentucky Appalachian Mountains where passable roads up into the hills were lacking. To get books to people there the librarians rode horses and mules. In other states such as Louisiana, librarians delivered books on small flatboats they navigated with poles through the bayous.
Being a librarian was considered proper “women’s work.” However, one packhorse librarian recalled that riding her library route up in the hills wasn’t always that easy, especially on rainy days. She said, “I’d have to hold my feet out to the sides of the horse, the mud was so deep on the roads….And the horse would have to swim the creek when it rained. Old Pearl took me every place that I wanted to go.” My packhorse librarian in Along a Storied Trail had some of those hard trails through snow and cold and a willing horse named Shadrach.
The pay was $28 a month for the librarians. In the Appalachian counties, the book women had to supply her own horse or mule. Some, as I have Tansy doing in Along a Storied Trail, leased a horse from a neighbor. The book women rode 100 to 120 miles a week along designated routes through all kinds of the weather. If they couldn’t get there on their horses or mules, they went on foot. Most of librarians were local women which made them more acceptable to the mountain people who could be suspicious of strangers coming to their doors. Sometimes, they went to cabins so remote that whoever lived there hadn’t seen a soul since the last book delivery.
They took time to stop and read to people along the way, especially those who couldn’t read and were homebound due to illness. They tried to fill book requests and were careful what they took out to the people. Men liked Popular Mechanics magazines and women liked Woman’s Home Companion and Ladies’ Home Journal. They always had Bibles and old Sunday school books. They didn’t have magazines like Love Story and True Story, or detective magazines even though they were popular with readers in other areas at the time. They wanted to be sure no one, including the local preachers, could say their books weren’t fit to be read.
Book women often did double duty, carrying messages, letters, and news of the world through the mountains. By the end of 1938, there were 274 librarians riding out across 29 counties. The program closed in 1943 as the country geared up for the war effort and jobs were plentiful.
The book women helped nurture local pride. As one recipient said, “Them books you brought us has saved our lives.”
While the book woman reading to the man in the picture looks older than my character, Tansy, I did have Tansy wearing boots and a knit cap like this as she rode through the winter weather in Along a Storied Trail. Only two weeks now until my packhorse library book releases on June 1. I’m excited to have the book out there for readers and I hope you’ll like the story. Reviews, if you can post one online, are always helpful too.
Get an entry in my giveaway here on my blog, by leaving a comment. If you left a comment on my last post, you can get a second entry by commenting again. I’ll pick a winner who will get a copy of Along a Storied Trail or one of my other books if she or he so chooses. Deadline to enter is May 22, 2021 midnight EST.
Do you think you would have liked being a packhorse librarian?
Comments 68
I am a librarian but I am disabled, so no I would not have liked to be a packhorse librarian. Brilliant idea though. Such tenacity!
Author
I love libraries and librarians too, however they find to share books with the people in their area, Kristie. The Packhorse Libraries were certainly unique and tenacity was surely very necessary for them to make their weekly rounds.
I love to read and I love horses so I might have been a good candidate for the job. Since I’m a born and bred Kentuckian I find your books extremely fascinating. Makes me feel as if I was in that part of our State.
Author
Good to hear from a born and bred Kentuckian like me, Marcia. That’s why I like setting my stories in Kentucky, because I know something about the country and people here. Of course, people are people everywhere, but when I think about writing a story set in a big city or overseas, I think I might get lost in the setting. Maybe not, but so far I haven’t run out of Kentucky ideas. Loving books and horses would be important to a packhorse librarian.
I don’t know for sure; but, I think I would have liked being a packhorse librarian. I like horses, the countryside and books! When I was in high school, I loved working in the library as well as my first year of college! I even thought about becoming a librarian! I still think about this after I retire from teaching (next year, although, I will probably never retire until my health says otherwise!). Anyways, I love the places you take us through your books and the things you teach us!!! Thank-you!!! ❤
Author
You’d miss those kids you work with, Linda Dianne, if you retired. You’d have hug withdrawal, if there is such a thing. 🙂 But sine you love horses, books and the country, you might have done fine as a packhorse librarian. I so appreciate you reading my stories and hope you’ll like storytelling one too.
I would have loved being a packhorse librarian except having a sore backside. Haha
Author
That’s funny, Lucy. I would have had saddle sores for sure since I would have been such a greenhorn at riding.
My grandmother became a teacher when I was 5 years old. When I was 9, she went back to get her Master’s to be a librarian. Since she lived in the tiny town of Paint Lick, KY, the Appalachian people and their history was a big part of her lessons for me. (She taught at Paint Lick and Camp Dick Elementary schools). I’ve always been drawn to that part of our family and country’s histories. Books centered in Appalachia are still my favorites. My copy of Along A Storied Trail is in the mail. I can’t wait to read it!
And yes….I would have loved being a packhorse librarian. 😊💗
Author
I think you would have been great as a book woman, Lavon. You can the library backing for it. I know you must have enjoyed visiting her in Paint Lick. I’ve enjoyed writing the stories set in the Appalachian Mountains. May have one more in the works down the pipeline a little ways – if I don’t run out of words. 🙂
Ann, I have enjoyed your books, and your posts. Your gift of descriptions when you post about your walks with your dogs often brightens my day. I’m excited to read Along the Storied trail. The history you bring to life in your books such as River to Redemption is so true to Kentucky and I really like that.
Author
So fun to know you’re “walking” along with the dogs and me on Sunday mornings, Vicki. And I really glad you’ve enjoyed my Kentucky stories. River to Redemption is a story I especially enjoyed sharing since it was based on the true character of Louis. I do hope you’ll enjoy my packhorse librarian story too.
I love reading stories based on history. I never heard of these women before. What an interesting and terrifying job at the same time.
Author
The book women did have to be tough and ready for anything, Deborah. But since most of them were mountain born, they were prepared for the hard trails and work. I hope you’ll enjoy learning more about them when you get a chance to read Along a Storied Trail.
Such an interesting topic to read about. Looking forward to reading this book.
Author
I always appreciate you reading my stories, Ola, and stopping by here to read my blog posts. The packhorse librarians were interesting to learn more about.
I don’t know that I would have liked to be a packhorse librarian but I sure would have loved to see her coming.
Author
That’s what I would have been saying too, Melanie. I’m so glad my mother took me to the library when I was a kid. It opened up the world to this little country girl. Of course, I’m still a country girl planted not far from where I grew up, but it’s been good to have that window on the world through books.
I would love to have been a packhorse librarian!! I wish I could do that now!
Author
I don’t think there are many calls for packhorse librarians these days, Elizabeth. However, there are still bookmobiles and in our county we have outreach librarians who no longer drive the big bookmobiles around but do take books out to people unable to make it to the library themselves. I love that we still find ways to get books to people.
I’ve read a lot about these pack horse librarians so perhaps would have liked being one. Or maybe the idea of not having access to books is so appalling I find this particular WPA project inspiring! Today’s version of getting books to the people is me making a request that my regional library system buy “Along a Storied Trail” pronto 🙂
Author
I like your version of getting books to people, Toni. Thank you for making that request to your library. I do hope they get a copy to put on their shelves.
I definitely was inspired by reading about these women and their determination to share books and their love of reading. The WPA programs were more diverse than I had realized until I began doing my research.
I have always loved books. I have always loved sharing my books. The first two books I wrote were about my grandmother, Elsie, who was a librarian. She was a librarian first in the little mountain post office that also served as a district library. That post office and library were inside a barn. The postal inspector was shocked when he realized the location. So your book sounds wonderful to me!
Author
I can see why you were inspired to write about your grandmother, Barbara. She had to be a very interesting characters with her finger on the pulse of her community. Sometimes in mountain area, the people used what they had and made do. Thanks for sharing about your grandmother.
I think I would have liked it if I was born and brought up in that area, used to horses and used to the bad weather. Otherwise, I don’t think I would have been brave enough to attempt it.
Author
Very sensible thoughts, Connie. I’m right there with you. The book women had to be expert horse women and tough to stand up to the challenges of riding so many miles through rough terrain and all sorts of weather. I think you’re right that it would have taken courage.
WOW! How interesting to know. Really enjoyed learning about these interesting pack horse women. Nothing like reading books and learning!
Author
I so agree, Elaine. I love books and it’s fun to learn new things. I’m glad you like finding out more about the book women.
What a fascinating career for women back in the old days. I often, especially now in this day and age, fantasize about living in a different era where it seems the world was a more civil place. Oh, I realize mankind hasn’t really changed that much–we’re all cut from the same cloth, but in thinking about years-gone-by, one gets a little glimmer of the hardships and joys of the past that are so unfamiliar to us now. I would love being able to ride a horse and provide something that people appreciated for a job. Yes indeed! I would also require a doggie companion on my journeys up the mountain, and I’ll just bet there’s a canine in this story of yours too.
Author
Amy, the women were able to work as book women for several years while the government program was active, but eventually the program ended when the country entered WW II and all resources went toward winning the war.
In my other Appalachian books where I write about the Frontier Nurse midwives, (These Healing Hills and An Appalachian Summer) dogs were definitely in the story and went along with the nurse midwives on their rounds. That’s because the nurse midwives were recruited with the promise of their own horse, their own dog and the chance to save children’s lives. I do have dogs in Along a Storied Trail too, but Tansy doesn’t have one along with her on her book routes. However, I’m sure some of the book women did even if I didn’t come across that in my research.
For sure times were hard back in the 1930’s and very different than things are today. And you are right about people all having some of the same characteristics throughout time.
I don’t ride and can’t imagine riding in those conditions, but I’m fascinated by these strong women who became beacons in these small communities. Thanks for sharing. I look forward to reading this one!
Author
Great, Judy. I hope you’ll enjoy the story when you get a chance to read it. Even though I’ve written three books now set in the Appalachian Mountains centering about heroines who ride horse, I’m not a horse woman either. Praises be, for imagination.
In my research I did very much admire these strong book women.
I would have loved to be a librarian. In fact, one of my sisters was a librarian. All of us, including our mother, loved to read. However, I’m not so sure I would have loved being a packhorse librarian because of the arduous travel involved. However, the satisfaction of bringing such joy to others as they read helpful and entertaining materials would have been quite a blessing! I’m so looking forward to reading your book as I finish the one I’m currently reading.
Author
I’ve always thought being a librarian would be a great job too, Suzanne, or working in a bookstore although I probably don’t know all the duties they’d have to keep them away from actually enjoying those books. I come from a reading family too. Such a gift.
Like you, I doubt I would have wanted to ride all around those hills with books. I’d have wanted to be the one that got to stay in town at the library room they had to have. 🙂
I’m so excited for your book release! I’d never heard of these librarians, so I really appreciate your research and bringing them to us. Thank you, Ann!
Author
There have been several books with the packhorse libraries as central setting or history published in the last couple of years, Judi. I didn’t know about any of them when I came up with my book woman idea, but I guess the time was right for stories about them. I do hope you will enjoy reading about Tansy and her family and those people she carried books too.
Fascinating,Ann! Thanks for sharing such wonderful information about packhorse librarians! I think I would have been tickled purple to be a packhorse librarian; I love people, I love horses, and I look books, so that sounds like a perfect combination to me! 😊
Author
I’m glad you liked the packhorse librarian information, Emily. If you’re still interested, you can find out more about them on line. I’m sure you would have had fun as a packhorse librarian, and been up for the challenge.
I think the job sounds just lovely! Riding horses (or mules) and working with books, spreading a little hope and joy to others. 🙂
Author
The book women were glad to get the jobs for sure, Crystal, but I imagine there were times when riding those hard trails in all sorts of weather, hot and cold, that they didn’t feel lovely. 🙂 But I do think they enjoyed spreading the joy of reading to those on their book routes.