Pack Horse Librarians

Can you imagine riding your horse or mule over 100 miles each week, crossing steep terrain, hooves slipping on treacherous footing on barely discernable trails, perhaps with drop-offs hundreds of feet just beside you? Yikes! How about crossing icy waters that made your boots freeze to your stirrups—all the while packing up to 100 books and hoping that your horse didn’t trip on submerged rocks and dump you into the water?  What if you rounded a turn and came face-to-face with a wild animal?

That’s exactly what librarians braved in the early 1900’s through 1943. The dedicated women of The Pack Horse Library Project delivered books to families in remote areas of the Appalachian Mountains where there was no access to books. Because of these women and their equine partners, children and their parents were able to expand their knowledge of the world. Books lit up their imaginations, allowing them to dream of possibilities that they might never have known otherwise. Some families even began donating recipes and quilting patterns to share, bringing families miles away closer to each other in friendship.

I found this information and much more on a Wikipedia link—more information than I could share here.

I can hardly believe that 63 counties in Kentucky had no libraries at all when today we can buy and borrow books via our computers and tablets within seconds.

There were abundant challenges for the Pack Horse Women and for their trusted equines. The women received paychecks, but I suspect that their reward came from seeing the shining faces of families as they sorted through new selections of books. I can hear the shouts of joy when someone found just the book they wanted. If it was me, I would’ve been looking for any ‘horse book’ first—of course.

I encourage researching the Wikipedia page to learn more about these dedicated librarians and to find links to books written on this subject, including The Giver of Stars, a historical fiction Best Seller for which Universal Pictures has purchased movie rights.

In the meantime, I think I’ll head out back to see my horses and tell them about how their ancestors helped expand the world of readers back in the day. They always like a good story.