The public library is an incredibly important societal institution. Not only does it provide free access to books, internet, magazines, and various objects and supplies, among other services and items, but it is also one of the few places where you can spend as much time as you’d like, for free, in public. Personally, I am an avid user of my own public library, and one of the first things I do when I move is get a new library card. I have always been a passionate reader and even learned to write my own name in order to get my first library card.  

The Carnegie Library, created by the Colored Library Association of Savannah, marked the first freestanding library in Savannah, and the first one for use by Savannah’s Black citizens. It was vital in their pursuit of education during segregation and has shaped the lives of more than a few influential Savannahians. The importance of the library is not up for debate. In looking at its history, however, it becomes apparent that it was continuously underfunded and neglected by the city, leading to the collapse of the roof in 1997, and only 200 of their original 1,000 -item rare book collection remaining, among other issues. The Carnegie Library is now the Carnegie Library Heritage Center. The continuous community organizing that created the library in the first place, got it funded, and kept it open despite the neglect, is a story that should be told.  

As part of telling that story, I found a collection of historical images leading up to the 2026 reopening as the Heritage Center and compiled them into a bound book, honoring the library’s past and present. It has been difficult to find many of the historic photos in the book, and by binding them into a physical object I hope to both preserve them and celebrate them, while paying homage to the thing that makes the library a library: the books.

Carnegie, Andrew. Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1920.

Carnegie, Andrew. "The Best Fields for Philanthropy" The North American Review, Volume 149, Issue 397, December 1889.

"Carnegie Library, Savannah, Georgia" (PDF). Live Oak Public Library. https://liveoakpl.org/ld.php?content_id=45506465(opens in new tab). Retrieved May 27, 2023.

"Library History". Live Oak Public Libraries. https://liveoakpl.org/about/CLHC(opens in new tab). Retrieved May 27, 2023.

“Needs No Library”, Savannah Morning News. Wednesday, April 19, 1902, 10, archive, Savannah Public Library.

Savannah Public Library Annual Report of the Colored Library, 1910, archive, Savannah Public Library.