"The Place to Go": The 135th Street Branch Library and the Harlem Renaissance

Abstract

In the early 1920s, the 135th Street Branch of the New York Public Library, under the leadership of Ernestine Rose, played a significant role in the Harlem Renaissance movement. By drawing on the resources of the community, the library staff facilitated connections between writers and their readers with literary gatherings; between artists and their viewers with art exhibitions; and between playwrights, performers, and their audiences with theatrical productions. But the library's most significant legacy was its book collection, now known as the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, which has provided a permanent connection between a people and their history.