EARLY TRAINING FOR BLACK LIBRARIANS IN THE U.S.: A HISTORY OF THE HAMPTON INSTITUTE LIBRARY SCHOOL AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ATLANTA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LIBRARY SERVICE (VIRGINIA, GEORGIA, UNITED STATES)

This study traces the early development of library education for black Americans, from the establishment of the Hampton Institute Library School to its closing, followed by the subsequent establishment of the Atlanta University School of Library Service. The primary focus was the events of the fourteen year existence of the Hampton Library School and the circumstances that led to its closing.;The Hampton Library School was established in 1925 to train black women as librarians for work in the South. Initially, graduates of the Program were expected to work as librarians in the developing historically-black institutions of higher learning. One hundred eighty-three men and women had completed the program by the time the Hampton Library School closed in 1939 and its graduates were employed in all spheres of Southern library activity. The curriculum, faculty, and financing of the school are discussed, as are the administrative decisions made by the Board of Education for Librarianship of the American Library Association, the Hampton Institute, and the Carnegie Corporation of New York.;First, educational and social factors were identified that encouraged the development of library service for blacks. An analysis of the Hampton Library school was then conducted, almost exclusively from primary source materials. This material was analyzed within the context of library education, as accredited by the American Library Association and supported financially by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Primary and secondary sources were used to trace the events leading to the closing of the Hampton Library School and the establishment of the Atlanta University School of Library Service.