Spreading the Gospel of Books: Essae M. Culver and the Genesis of Louisiana Parish Libraries

Abstract

Louisiana native, archivist, and historian Florence M. Jumonville is singularly qualified to write this work. Her understanding of the culture and politics of Louisiana gives her a particular insight into the complexities of the story she tells and allows her to provide a local flavor to the story.The book's title is somewhat misleading, as the actual content of the book ranges far beyond Miss Culver and the beginnings of Parish Libraries in Louisiana. A prologue provides a concise summary of Louisiana library history from 1805 to 1925, focusing in particular on the role of women's clubs and the Louisiana traveling library. It contextualizes this history within the larger American public library history, as well as Louisiana history, a practice that will be continued throughout the work.The first chapter includes a biographical sketch of Culver's early life as well as a brief overview of her work first as a public librarian in Salem, Oregon, and then as a county librarian in California under Milton J. Ferguson. The body of the work covers Culver's administration as state librarian from 1925 to 1962 and that of Sallie Ferrell from 1962 to 1975.Utilizing Culver's personal and professional journals and papers, as well as manuscript materials found in multiple archival collections at the state library and other repositories, Jumonville describes in detail the social, political, and legal challenges that Culver faced throughout those forty years. Not only was she charged with establishing parish libraries in rural areas that had never had library service, but also, before she could begin, she had to craft the legislation that would make such libraries even possible and convince a populace hostile to the concept of publicly funded services to vote for increased taxes. Later, she was be called on to meet the new demands of the Great Depression, World War II, and the civil rights era.Jumonville does not shy away from addressing racial issues, including both segregation and desegregation of public and school libraries. The Rosenwald Demonstration Library established in Webster Parish in 1929 to serve both the white and black populations, albeit with segregated branches, receives detailed treatment, as do the protests that led to the desegregation of public libraries in 1964. Nor does she restrict herself to events with which Culver was directly involved, but includes relevant events of the time. The history of Angola Prison and other libraries serving the incarcerated is included, as well as the beginnings of education for librarianship and the establishment of the LSU School of Library Science, for instance. Politicians and other leaders who were instrumental in promoting the cause of public libraries—or opposing it—appear throughout the work.The book includes numerous contemporary photographs of people and places, including many that illustrate the unique culture of Louisiana, with its bookmobiles serving patrons who arrive by pirogue on the banks of the bayou. It is easy to read, written in a conversational style, and of interest to anyone interested in the history of libraries and librarianship in the United States.