In 1894, there were only around 400 public libraries in the United States—almost half of which (179) were in Massachusetts alone. These community libraries were typically funded by local philanthropists, often as a memorial bequest. In an era where most did not graduate high school, books were considered a vital component of continuing education, yet were still clearly out of reach for many.
Between 1883 and 1929, American Industrialist Andrew Carnegie aided in the construction of over 2,000 public libraries through a grant program. While this aided communities with no local philanthropy resources, the assistance did not come without effort. The Carnegie grant program required cities to monetarily match the donation, demonstrate the need for a library, provide the site, provide ten percent of the cost of the construction on a yearly basis, and provide free service to all. A notable exception to the final rule: Carnegie did not force southern libraries to desegregate, though he did sometimes provide grants to Black communities to create their own libraries. Until 1905, Kansas law stated segregation was legal in elementary schools, but not higher education and made no mention of public spaces such as libraries.
Carnegie, who wrote in 1889 “The man who dies thus rich dies disgraced,” was still himself not above criticism. The infamous Homestead Strike that took place at one of his Steelworks in 1892 resulted in ten deaths and hundreds of injuries— all of this while Carnegie was conveniently out of the country. The strike was a result of union busting techniques employed by Carnegie’s company and critics felt that Carnegie should prioritize higher wages and better working conditions before giving large amounts of money away to charity. Some communities came to feel a large amount of civic pride from funding their libraries without Carnegie’s assistance.
One demographic in particular took up the cause of public libraries. Women’s groups were overwhelmingly involved in advocacy, civic organizing, and fundraising for these institutions—a pattern that is clearly reflected in the history of Johnson County’s first public library.
The Ladies’ Reading Circle of Olathe, which was founded in 1883 and is still active today, began their push to make a public library for the city of Olathe in 1889. As was typical, they began with a small collection of donated books, whatever community spaces would accommodate them, and volunteer librarians. Even after receiving the grant from Carnegie, community organizers were still responsible for building the collection and obtaining donated furniture and other necessities.
Because of the undeniable contributions of Women’s organizations to the public library, women were often allowed to vote in local elections related to the library even though their right to vote was not guaranteed by the federal government until 1920. However, the women’s votes were counted separately from the men’s—which, while problematic, does allow us to see that women voters tended to support their public libraries by a much wider margin than their male counterparts.
In 1910, Olathe native Lena Bell was chosen from a pool of 20 applicants to serve as the city of Olathe’s first librarian. She facilitated the library’s move from two rooms in Olathe’s City Hall to the new Carnegie library that opened February 5th of 1914. Several local women’s clubs hosted celebrations on that day to mark the occasion. Bell worked as Olathe’s city librarian until her death in 1922. Other nearby library systems, including Kansas City, Kansas Public Library and Lawrence Public Library also received grants from Carnegie.
While Carnegie Library grants ended well before Johnson County Library’s founding in the 1950’s, the organizers followed in the footsteps of those who raised funds for Carnegie Library. The new county library was primarily advocated for by women, and they started out just as the women in Olathe had. They fundraised through their communities, accepting donated books and whatever spaces homes or small businesses were willing to set aside for them. Areas that did not have branches were served by a bookmobile. Even though voters approved the establishment of the library in 1952, funding to pay for buildings and staff did not become available until 1955—circumstances which made the volunteer work of women vital not only to the organization’s creation, but also to its survival.
-Leah P., Johnson County Library
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