Occupation Librarian | ||
Born 1896 Nashville, Tennessee Known for First African-American Librarian at the New York Public Library Died September 1948, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States | ||
Catherine Allen Latimer (1896-1948) was the New York Public Library's first African-American librarian. She was instrumental in forming the library's Division of Negro History, Literature and Prints, which she then headed.
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Personal Life
Catherine Bosley Allen was born in Nashville, TN, in 1896 to Minta Bosley Trotman and H. W. Allen. Although she and her family were African American, Catherine was light-skinned and listed in the 1910 and 1930 censuses as "White." Her family moved to Brooklyn, NY, when she was a child, and she continued to live in New York for most of her adult life. She graduated from Brooklyn’s Girls High School in 1916 and went on to study librarianship at Howard University, graduating in 1918. Latimer was a fluent French speaker and could read German.
In 1921, she married Benton R. Latimer. Benton R. Latimer attended Howard University, served in the US Army World War I, and later worked as an accountant for the United States Post Office.
Catherine had a strong physical presence.Langston Hughes met her at the 135th Street Branch in 1921 and admired her "luscious cafe au lait" skin.
Catherine Allen Latimer died in Brooklyn in September 1948. She had devoted 20 years as a cataloger and reference librarian with the Schomburg Collection.
Librarianships
After graduating from Howard University, Latimer worked for a year (1919–1920) at Tuskegee Institute's library and then returned to Brooklyn.
When the New York Public Library (NYPL) hired her in 1920 as a substitute librarian, she became NYPL's first African-American librarian. She transitioned to being a full-time librarian at the end of 1920 and remained at the 135th Street branch–termed "Harlem's cultural center"—for the entirety of her 28-year career.
In 1924, Latimer and Ernestine Rose (the branch's head librarian) started a drive to build a collection of reference books about black history. A year later, the growing collection—supported by community leaders like historian Arturo Alfonso Schomburg and activists James Weldon Johnson and Hubert Harrison—became the Division of Negro History, Literature and Prints. The object of the new division was to "preserve the historical records of the race... [and] to give information to everyone about the Negro." Latimer was named as its head.
In 1926, NYPL acquired Schomburg's own collection of printed matter, which Latimer worked on integrating into the division. She was not an expert in rare books, however, and a few years later NYPL hired Schomburg himself as curator of the Schomburg Collection, with Latimer serving as his assistant. Many authors give credit and thanks to the librarians Rose and Latimer for there work in the creation and maintenance of this division.