The Book Women of Kentucky: The WPA Pack Horse Library Project, 1936-1943

The Pack Horse Library Project of the Works Progress Administration employed women of the Appalachian region of Kentucky to deliver books and other reading material to remote mountain schools and residences. By the 1930s library extension services into the mountain region had declined, and industrialization had heightened residents' awareness of the need for literacy. These developments, along with the use of local women as carriers, contributed to the acceptance of the WPA program by communities that traditionally had distrusted government intrusion. The program also fostered interest in reading about the outside world in a region that for nearly two centuries had experienced isolation and high rates of illiteracy.