The Pack Horse Library Project of Eastern Kentucky: 1936-1943

This study examines the Pack Horse Library Project, partially supported by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), in eastern Kentucky from 1936 to 1943 . The WPA supported the project by providing work relief for local women and a few local men. Communities, individuals, and organizations such as county boards of education, civic clubs, and Kentucky PTAs funded materials, operating expenses, and overhead. For hundreds of isolated mountain communities, schools, and individuals the Pack Horse Library Project provided the first public library service ever experienced.

The Pack Horse Library Project provided library service to an area of Kentucky that was geographically isolated and economically and socially depressed. Residents welcomed and utilized the service becoming regular users. Despite the most unfavorable geographical and social conditions, dependence on donated materials in poor condition, and meager operating resources, the Project offered unique, regular library service.

Documents and correspondence from the Kentucky State Librarian's records between 1935 to 1943 provide a core of source materials for this study. Other documents include published journal and newspaper articles between 1935 and 1943. Interviews with participants in the Project still living during this investigation offer important insights, as well as other participants interviewed and recorded by the Kentucky Oral History Commission of the Kentucky Historical Society in 1984 and 1986.