Colored Reading Room, Lexington Carnegie Public Library (Fayette County, KY)

When the Lexington Carnegie Public Library opened in 1905, there was a Colored Reading Room and Negroes were allowed to check out books. "This room is one of the most pleasant of the library, and furnished, in unison with all the others, with handsome table and chairs of weathered oak. It is situated near the reference room, and opposite the reading room to the left of the front entrance." The Colored Reading Room was the beginning of public library services provided by the city for African Americans in Lexington, KY, and the room was rarely used. In 1949, the Laura Carroll Branch, a colored library, was opened on Georgetown Street in Lexington, and the main library removed the sign for the Colored Reading Room and added small signs to two tables that were reserved for colored students. For more see Library Service to African Americans in Kentucky by R. F. Jones; and 5th report (p.14) and 7th report (pp.11-12) of the Annual Report of the Lexington Public Library, Lexington, KY. See also Fayette County Rural Library Service, Negro Effort, and Colored Libraries in Charlote Court and Apendale Housing Authority.