{"id":46664,"date":"2017-09-16T18:20:53","date_gmt":"2017-09-16T22:20:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.pinemountainsettlement.net\/?page_id=46664"},"modified":"2020-02-11T15:08:42","modified_gmt":"2020-02-11T20:08:42","slug":"pack-horse-library-service","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/staging.pinemountainsettlement.net\/?page_id=46664","title":{"rendered":"EDUCATION Pack Horse Library Service at PMSS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pine Mountain Settlement School<\/strong>
\n Series 13: Education<\/strong>
\n Community Service<\/strong><\/p>\n

EDUCATION PACK HORSE LIBRARY SERVICE at PMSS<\/h2>\n
\n

TAGS:<\/strong> \u00a0Pack Horse Library; Pine Mountain Settlement School; libraries; mobile libraries; Ruth Shuler Dieter; Don Thompson; Hattie Sturgill; literacy; horses; books; W.P.A.; Glyn Morris; Ray Garner; Virginia Garner; movies; Harmon Foundation; Sidney Helton; Nan Milan;<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"

Ruth Shuler on horseback, delivering books as part of the library program. c. late 1930s. [garner_006 .jpg](121)<\/p><\/div>\n

“In the fall Pine Mountain assumed\u00a0the responsibility of a pack horse library service which was later financed by W.P.A. \u00a0although the expense of maintaining the horses. is being\u00a0borne by a member of the Board of Trustees. The librarian used horse\u00a0and school bus to good advantage\u00a0and provided\u00a0traveling library service for adults and children\u00a0in the seven local schools and community. The eagerness with which\u00a0the librarian\u00a0is met by school children\u00a0is evidence\u00a0of the useful services\u00a0which she is performing.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Glyn Morris wrote this account of the Pack Horse Library Service in his 1937 Annual Report to the Board of Trustees. The W.P.A. program he referred to was begun much earlier at the school, but the subsidy was not picked up by the W.P.A. program for Pine Mountain Settlement until 1937. Prior to that, book delivery was generally by the staff at the School as they made their regular weekly community visits.<\/p>\n

THE PACK HORSE<\/p>\n

In the April 1941 Pine Cone <\/em>student newsletter,\u00a0<\/em> the “Pack Horse” at Pine Mountain is described<\/p>\n

\"\"In the student program, the pack horse concept was integrated into the curriculum. \u00a0It was part of a much broader community outreach effort by the School that included medical services, hand-craft classes in the local schools, as well as the delivery of books and brief literacy exercises with the community members by the student librarians. The program continued until the closure of the boarding school in 1949.<\/p>\n

The following amusing account of the Pine Mountain Settlement School Pack Horse Library Service is described by student Don Thompson as part of a Community Group Assembly <\/a>program presented by the participating students in May of 1942 to up-coming student service participants. \u00a0The students explain the range of services offered. \u00a0This particular offering by\u00a0 Thompson is memorable as it captures the critical transition from horse, to foot, to motorized delivery of books.<\/p>\n

Hattie:\u00a0\u201cMr. Packhorse librarian, Don Thompson.\u201d (Don walks to <\/em>table, carrying bag filled with books.)<\/em><\/p>\n

[He reports]<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is there in this job of being packhorse librarian? Well, in the first place, there\u2019s a lot to\u00a0be\u00a0done that hasn\u2019t\u00a0been\u00a0done; it\u2019s a job that requires a lot of ingenuity. Mrs. [Birdena] Bishop told me that I was to try to \u2018create reading appetites,\u2019 that is, it was part of my job to make people want to read something really worthwhile. I feel that I haven\u2019t gotten very far and there is a lot of room for next year\u2019s librarian to make improvements.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cTo begin with, there was much time early In the year when Sunny Jim [the horse] was laid up. He finally recovered from an operation and I took my first lessons in horseback riding. Was I\u00a0sore? Well, I got over that, but I\u2019m not enough of a horseman yet to feel that I\u2019m boss when I\u2019m mounted. In spite of a tight rein, Sunny Jim still shies when we pass half a dozen trucks at Nolan\u2019s store.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I started out I carried my books in saddlebags, but they were too small.\u00a0Then Mrs. Bishop made a big double carrier out of burlap bags, to be thrown across the saddle. When we found out that Sunny Jim was to be sold, I came to class one day to find that Mrs. Bishop made me this pretty pink thing out of a feed bag. (Holds bag outstretched to display it.) It looked like a girl\u2019s apron to me but from then on I was to wear it, and\u00a0<\/em>I was to be the horse.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThese are some of the things I have found out: There are almost no boys of teen age in the homes that I visit; there are very few men at home either; so most of my readers are women and small children; The women like\u00a0Life Magazine,\u00a0Woman\u2019s Day,\u00a0Reader\u2019s Digest, and some novels; The small children want picture\u00a0<\/em>books and fairy tales, and those a little older like Indian stories and airplane books. They ask for Zane Grey and adventure stories. Everybody wants me to stop and talk. They hear radio reports, sometimes just parts of them, or rumors, and they don\u2019t understand and are excited or worried. I tell them how I see things and it helps. There\u2019s always something that I must look at: a little boy wants me to come see his 4-H Club strawberry patch; one would have me look at his pet rabbit; another wants me to stop long enough for a game of marbles; another to pitch some horseshoes; a woman wants me to look at her garden; another wants me to get the harness off a mule who took to wallowing In the lot before his gear had been removed. I ask a barefoot boy if the stones hurt his feet. he says, \u2018Watch me run!\u2019 and then he pounds heels and soles along the rocky road and comes back to show me his feet \u2014 tough as shoe leather on the bottom.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cMost of our books are for circulation, but some are to be given away and I try to distribute those where they will be most used. I find that those given away last year are kept carefully, and one family in particular proudly showed me their few books and called it their \u2018library.\u2019 Even though they may not all be read I think it means something just to have some books around in sight. There is a pride in the ownership of books which promises greater literacy in the future for some of our people.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The following gallery of photographs is by Virginia Garner, wife of Ray Garner, the team that came to Pine Mountain in 1941- 42 under the sponsorship of the Harmon Foundation. They were charged to document the very progressive educational program at Pine Mountain and stayed on the campus for most of the 1941-42 school year\u00a0and produced a film as well as a folio of still shots. The following images are some of those still shots that detail the Pack Horse Library Service and feature Ruth Shuler, a student at the time. When she graduated from Pine Mountain, she went Berea College and eventually to live in Abilene, Kansas where she spent a life-time in public service, much of it in support of libraries.<\/p>\n

Ray and Virginia Garner<\/a> left Pine Mountain and made a name for themselves in the film industry, with innovative technical work as well as meaningful content.<\/p>\n

\n

Gallery: EDUCATION PACK HORSE LIBRARY SERVICE at PMSS<\/h3>\n\n\t\t