Vivian Gordon Harsh (May 27, 1890 – August 17, 1960) was an American

librarian A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users. The role of the librarian has changed much over time, ...

. Harsh is noted as the

Chicago Public Library The Chicago Public Library (CPL) is the public library system that serves the City of Chicago in the U.S. state of Illinois. It consists of 81 locations, including a central library, two regional libraries, and branches distributed throughout the ...

(CPL) system's first

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

librarian, being assigned to the position on February 26, 1924. Harsh served as a librarian for 34 years until retiring in 1958. During her career, she began an extensive archive on African American history and culture, which is now known as, the ''Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection'', at the CPL.

Background

Born in Chicago, Illinois to a family described as “blueblood” by the ''Chicago Defender'' in its obituary for Harsh. Harsh's mother was one of the first female graduates of the historically black

Fisk University Fisk University is a private historically black liberal arts college in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1866 and its campus is a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1930, Fisk was the first Africa ...

in Tennessee and her father owned a saloon. Harsh attended

Wendell Phillips Academy High School Wendell Phillips Academy High School is a public 4–year high school located in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the south side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Phillips is part of the Chicago Public Schools district and is managed by the Acad ...

located in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the city's south side (which would later produce numerous other famous alumni, from Sam Cooke to the first Harlem Globetrotters). Harsh first began working for the Chicago Public Library as a junior clerk in 1909. She later went on to graduate from

Simmons College Institutions of learning called Simmons College or Simmons University include: * Simmons University, a women's liberal arts college in Boston, Massachusetts * Simmons College of Kentucky, a historically black college in Louisville, Kentucky * Har ...

Library School in Boston, Massachusetts. Harsh was named director of the new George Cleveland Hall branch in 1932. Harsh's goal for Hall Library when she became director was to have it serve as a community gathering space and to provide educational outreach opportunities. As a librarian, she was passionate about collecting works about African Americans and she traveled extensively throughout the South finding books to add to her collection. Harsh assembled the "Special Negro Collection" at the library, which drew a large number of diverse readers and researchers to the library. Additionally, in her role as the director of Hall Library, Harsh organized community programs such as black history clubs, literary study clubs, a literature forum, art exhibits, storytelling sessions, drama clubs, a senior citizen’s group, and debates, all with the assistance of black children's librarian

Charlemae Hill Rollins Charlemae Hill Rollins (June 20, 1897 – February 3, 1979) was a pioneering librarian, writer and storyteller in the area of African-American literature. During her thirty-one years as head librarian of the children's department at the Chicago ...

. The literature forum Harsh created met twice a month and provided community members a place to come and listen to book reviews or lectures given by fellow community members.

Langston Hughes James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. One of the earliest innovators of the literary art form called jazz poetry, Hug ...

Zora Neale Hurston Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891 – January 28, 1960) was an American author, anthropologist, and filmmaker. She portrayed racial struggles in the early-1900s American South and published research on Hoodoo (spirituality), hoodoo. The most ...

Gwendolyn Brooks Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks (June 7, 1917 – December 3, 2000) was an American poet, author, and teacher. Her work often dealt with the personal celebrations and struggles of ordinary people in her community. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetr ...

Arna Bontemps Arna Wendell Bontemps ( ) (October 13, 1902 – June 4, 1973) was an American poet, novelist and librarian, and a noted member of the Harlem Renaissance. Early life Bontemps was born in Alexandria, Louisiana, into a Louisiana Creole family. His a ...

, Horace Clayton, and

Margaret Walker Margaret Walker (Margaret Abigail Walker Alexander by marriage; July 7, 1915 – November 30, 1998) was an American poet and writer. She was part of the African-American literary movement in Chicago, known as the Chicago Black Renaissance. H ...

were among the people who participated in these forums. The Hall Library's role as a meeting place for African-American thinkers and activists had a profound impact on the surrounding Bronzeville neighborhood in Chicago in the 1930s and 1940s. Harsh retired as director of Hall Library in 1958.

Personal and death

Harsh suffered romantic heartbreak and never married. Harsh died on August 17, 1960, aged 70 in Chicago, Illinois.

Legacy

Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature

The collection Harsh started has been renamed the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature and is now located at the Woodson Regional Library just east of

Beverly, Chicago Beverly, officially Beverly Hills, is the 72nd of Chicago's 77 community areas. Located from the Loop, it is on the city's far south side. Beverly is considered part of the Blue Island Ridge, along with the nearby community areas of Morgan P ...

. Today, the Harsh collection contains rare books, current and historical periodicals, microfilm collections, and archival document collections. The holdings include: the Timuel D. Black Papers, the William McBride Jr. Papers, the Richard Wright Papers, and the Patricia Lidell Researchers Archives, among other African-American activists, authors, educators, and organizations with ties to the city of Chicago. The Harsh also regularly exhibits items of particular interest. Recent exhibits include selections from the Timuel D. Black Papers and the Reverend Addie Wyatt Papers. Today, the Vivian G. Harsh Collection is the largest African American history and literature collection in the Midwest, it was once called the "Black Jewel of the Midwest." Guss, E. (2010). Cultural Record Keepers: Vivian G. Harsh Collection of Afro-American History and Literature, Carter G. Woodson Regional Library, Chicago Public Library. Libraries & the Cultural Record, 45(3), 359–363. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25750349

References

External links

George Cleveland Hall branch

* ttp://www.harshsociety.org/ Vivian G. Harsh Society
Woodson Regional Library Featured Collections
* ttps://interactive.wttw.com/playlist/2020/02/13/vivian-harsh The Chicago Librarian Who Created a Lauded Collection of African American History and Literature {{DEFAULTSORT:Harsh, Vivian G. 1890 births 1960 deaths People from Chicago American librarians American women librarians African-American librarians 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people Chicago Public Library