English: Biography: Miriam Matthews worked as a librarian in the Los Angeles Public Library system for more than 30 years, and was one of the first librarians to stimulate interest in Negro History Week. The daughter of Reuben Hearde and Fannie Elijah Matthews, she was born in Florida and educated in California. Graduating from the School of Librarianship of the University of California, Berkeley, in 1927, she first was a substitute at several branch libraries in Los Angeles; next, assistant to the librarian at Robert Louis Stevenson branch, and then librarian in charge at the Helen Hunt Jackson Branch. In 1934, she became head librarian of the Vernon Branch; after six years, she took a leave of absence to work for six months at The New York Public Library. Returning to Los Angeles, she became head of both the Vernon and Watts branches. Miss Matthews received her master's degree from the Graduate Library School at the University of Chicago in 1945. When the Los Angeles library system was reorganized in 1949, she became a regional librarian, retiring after 11 years to give her attention to her other interests--a large personal collection of books, pictures, and documents pertaining to the early Black settlers of California and an art collection of canvasses and objects from around the world. Miss Matthews has held many positions with the American Library Association, including a term on the Council. Very active in the battle against censorship, she was a member of the ALA'S Committee on Intellectual Freedom and chairperson of the California committee. She is the author of The Negro in California 1781-1910: an Annotated Bibliography and Race Relations on the Pacific Coast: a Select Bibliography.

Description: The Black Women Oral History Project interviewed 72 African American women between 1976 and 1981. With support from the Schlesinger Library, the project recorded a cross section of women who had made significant contributions to American society during the first half of the 20th century. Photograph taken by Judith Sedwick
Repository: Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America.
Collection: Black Women Oral History Project
Research Guide: http://guides.library.harvard.edu/schlesinger_bwohp

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