The Pack Horse Library Project
We’re back after the summer break with new episodes of 16:1! New episodes will now be released on a seasonal schedule. Thanks for subscribing and supporting the show as we evolve!
In the first episode of this season, we’re exploring Appalachian regional history and a story of community resilience in some of the country’s remotest regions. You’ll hear how the pack horse librarians, women who traveled by horseback or mule over rough territory, traversed dozens of miles each day to deliver books to Kentucky families with few connections to neighbors and very limited access to public libraries. In the wake of Wall Street’s crash in 1929, pack horse librarians delivered books, mail, and other goods to fuel curiosities and help people gain critical new skills that put them back to work.
Thanks for listening, and welcome back to 16:1!
For a full list of episode sources and resources, visit our website.
Sources & Further Reading:
Pack Horse Library Project – Wikipedia
The Pack Horse Librarians of Appalachia | Episode 1 | PBS
Great Depression Facts – FDR Presidential Library & Museum
Works Progress Administration – Wikipedia
Records of the Work Projects Administration [WPA]
WPA Library Programs: DPLA (Internet Archive)
July–August 2022 United States floods – Wikipedia
Letcher County library accepting books after catastrophic flooding
Library renovations at Blackey, Neon are delayed – The Mountain Eagle
Facebook Post from Fleming Neon Public Library on Flood Reconstruction
Whitesburg, Kentucky begins to clean up and recover after record flooding – WOUB Public Media
Eastern Kentucky Floods Devastate Library; Local Author Steps Up To Help
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek: A Novel (Paperback) | The Bookloft
The Pack Horse Librarians of Appalachia | Episode 1 | PBS
Book Women of Kentucky – Amy Lou Jenkins
Badass Lady Librarians Rode Hard Miles to Deliver Education and Joy
Madisonville, Kentucky | Cities Of Promise
National Affairs: Demos | TIME
Horse-Riding Librarians Were the Great Depression’s Bookmobiles
The Pack Horse Librarians of Eastern Kentucky – Blue Ridge Country
The Pack Horse Library Project of Eastern Kentucky: 1936-1943
Before Dolly’s Imagination Library, There Were The Appalachian Bookwomen
Złoty Forever? Why Poland Still Won’t Make The Switch To The Euro – Worldcrunch