The Pack Horse Library Initiative and Kentucky's librarians in the Great Depression: An academic essay

The history of libraries is a complex story of ups and downs. There have been times in American history when libraries almost ceased to exist (Boyd, 2009). One of those moments was during the American Great Depression of the 1930s. During this time, American institutions failed, jobs disappeared, homes were lost, and American libraries began to disappear. This paper aims to discover the Pack Horse Library Project's role in Kentucky history and its legacy. This paper answers two questions—How did The Pack Horse Library Project save libraries in Kentucky? And how did women save library services in eastern Kentucky?—by exploring different aspects of this topic, including the history of libraries in Kentucky during the Great Depression, The New Deal, the creation of the Works Progress Administration, the history of the Pack Horse Library Project, what role the program had on the development of libraries in Kentucky, and how the Pack Horse Library Project affected the role of women in the library.