A Pack Horse Library title - and a fascinating title to find bearing the stamp ‘W.P.A/ Pack Horse Library/ Cumberland County/ Burkesville, --KY’, revealing that this volume was part of Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration Project to send books to remote parts of the Appalachian Mountains between 1935 and 1943. The librarians were women who travelled on horseback with packs that could hold up to 100 books. The Packhorse Library project has been the subject of many historical treatments, notably Jojo Moyes 2019 novel The Giver of Stars.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Printed card wrappers, wear to the upper hinge. Library stamp to verso of upper cover with one dollar price in pencil and ‘#1491’, the library number repeated on title page. Further stamp at p.29 and comprehensive Pack Horse library treatment to final flyleaf and recto of lower card wrapper: ‘Pack Horse Library...’ stamp on the recto of the lower cover with a library pocket, borrowing slip and opposite a borrowing sheet. Darkening to the lower wrapper. A scarce title to find in any condition.
PACK HORSE LIBRARY: Every Packhorse Library’s story is different with each one set up on the initiative of a local librarian - Burkesville’s Pack Horse Library was set up in 1938 and ended up with around 1000 volumes in it. The book’s subject is the isolation and challenges faced by immigrant Slavic women in the USA - somehow germane to the Pack Horse Library’s overriding object to help people connect.
