1880s: Founding The history of Memphis Public Libraries began in the 1880s, when the city received $75,000 from Frederick Cossitt to build a public library on a plot of land near the
Mississippi River. However, when the library opened on April 12, 1893, it was soon made clear that the city government lacked funds for books; upon its grand opening, the library's shelves were empty. Memphians acted quickly, holding fundraisers and events that would eventually fill the Cossitt Library with books and research materials.
1900s to 1990s: Growth and change In March 1925, Jesse Cunningham was hired to serve as former library director Charles Dutton Johnston's successor. A graduate from the New York State Library School, Cunningham introduced a number of new standards to Memphis. In 1931 Cunningham established libraries were established in
Shelby County schools, and a
bookmobile began to service up to fifteen rural communities. By 1939 a library branch for African Americans was built on Vance Avenue, which has since been named for longtime Vance resident and
civil rights activist, Cornelia Crenshaw.
Desegregation Not long after the construction of the Highland branch and main library in 1951 and 1955, respectively, C. Lamar Wallis was brought on after Cunningham's retirement in 1958. Under Wallis's leadership a branch was built in nearly every section of the county. In 1973, it was decided that city and county governments would jointly fund local libraries, marking the creation of the Memphis/Shelby County Public Library system.
Sit-in demonstrations were also held by black college students. On March 20, 1960, students sat in at the Central Library and the Cossitt Reference Library. They were arrested and jailed. This event, combined with
Jesse Turner's lawsuit, led to the desegregation of all public libraries in October 1960. Controversy during Wallis's tenure continued; in 1969 he gained national attention for refusing to remove Phillip Roth's novel ''
Portnoy's Complaint'' against the mayor's objections. This along with his call to desegregate Memphis's public libraries led Wallis to receive the Tennessee Library Association's Freedom of Information Award in 1998.
Judith A. Drescher: First female director Judith A. Drescher was brought on in 1985 as the sixth library director, and the first female library director in Memphis. She exercised the system's belief that libraries are a core information source for the community by bringing underserved areas library services via mobile units. Additionally, she oversaw the construction of the
Cordova and East Shelby branches.
2000s to present In 2001, the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library opened to the public. It featured a multi-story hub comprising a large children's section, space for communal gatherings, reading rooms, computer training labs, and more. On January 9, 2024, the
Bartlett Board of Mayor and Aldermen voted to leave the MPL system, being the last of the eight suburbs in Shelby County to do so. ==Branches==