From 1952 until the mid 1980s, New Orleans Public Library cardholders could check out framed art prints to bring home for weeks at a time.
For decades, New Orleans Public Library cardholders could browse and borrow from the thousands of records of the Lahache Music Library.
Geraldine Vaucresson was hired in 1961 as the first Black librarian in New Orleans to work at a traditionally white library. Her employment was part of a strategic to integrate the Library in practice, as well as on paper, which happened in 1954.
Until her death in 1998, Rosa F. Keller repeatedly took up arms to fight for equality for all – regardless of race, gender, or sexual identity – and was an especially important figure in the New Orleans Public Library’s path to inclusivity.
In honor of Black History Month and the New Orleans Public Library’s 125th anniversary, we’re taking a look back at the Library’s Black leadership.
Dryades Library opened in 1915 as the first public Library in New Orleans to welcome Black patrons, almost two decades after the New Orleans Public Library officially opened its doors.
On January 18, 1897, the New Orleans Public Library opened its doors for the first time. Fast forward to 2022. The New Orleans Public Library now operates a 15-location system with a collection of more than 466,000 items and enriches the community with access to free services and resources that its founders could likely have never imagined.