Robert W. Saunders Sr. Public Library

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Robert Saunders Library as depicted in photograph from the Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System Robert saunders branch today.jpg
Robert Saunders Library as depicted in photograph from the Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System

The Robert W. Saunders Sr. Public Library is a member of the Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System (THPL) and the Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative (HCPLC). Located on 1505 Nebraska Avenue in Tampa, Florida, the 26,244 square foot library is one of only two African-American research libraries in Florida. [1] The library provides access to the full suite of Adobe Creative Cloud desktop apps by booking in advance or by a walk-in booking. [2] The library features art and history displays about African Americans in Tampa.

Contents

History

In 1933, the Ybor City Branch Library opened in a storefront, donated by the local Italian American Club, L'Unione Italiana at 1729 East Broadway. At the time, L'Unione Italiana was one of the several ethnic clubs in Tampa which provided members with cultural enrichment activities, healthcare, and promoted civic engagement and cultural development in the fledgeling city. [3] The library's collection featured materials in Spanish, Italian and English to accommodate the diverse population of Ybor City. [4]

Ybor City Branch Library, replaced by the newer Saunders Branch. Ybor city branch library.jpg
Ybor City Branch Library, replaced by the newer Saunders Branch.

Construction of a new building at 1505 North Nebraska Avenue, in an area once known as "the Scrub", was planned as part of the 1968 Model Cities Maryland Avenue Urban Renewal project. [5] The new library, designed by Architect Russell Minardi, was dedicated in January 1969. It featured a stone mural along the entrance wall entitled "Symbols of Mankind" by local artist and former professor Joe Testa-Secca. The mural reflects the great knowledge available at a library.

On November 5, 2003, the Ybor City Branch Library was renamed to honor Robert W. Saunders Sr., a former Field Secretary of the NAACP. Saunders guided the state through challenging years as the South struggled for civil rights. [6]

Demolition of the old building and groundbreaking to replace the nearly 45-year-old building currently located at 1505 N. Nebraska Ave. was held March 7, 2014. [7] The new $7 million, two-story building was designed by the Harvard Jolly architecture firm. [8]

Unlike the original opening of the Ybor City Branch Library in 1933, when no program to mark the opening took place, [9] a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on August 12, 2015, to celebrate the grand opening of the new Robert W. Saunders Sr. Public Library. Two pieces from the old library were incorporated into the new building: a bronze bust of Robert W. Saunders Sr., and the exterior stone mural called "Symbols of Mankind." The new library features a bookstore, a recording room for visitors to record their oral histories and stories, a children's room with movable furniture, and a 350-seat community room equipped with a full-size commercial kitchen. The new two-story library has a historical corridor dedicated to the history of African Americans in the area. It features exhibits showcasing the athletes, entertainers, churches and schools that were part of Tampa's past. The second floor houses a special collections resource center for African-American history and genealogy. It contains hundreds of digitalized oral histories and databases for research. [10]

Support

The Ybor City Branch Library was supported in part by the Italian Club benefit programs (for example, with proceeds from showings of "motion" pictures" of the group's coronation ceremony and annual cabaret dance) [11] The predecessor to the current branch serving the area would not have been possible without the monetary support of the community. So too has the Robert W. Saunders Sr. Library benefited from the support of the larger Hillsborough County Library System and the community friends group.

The Robert W. Saunders Sr. Public Library is supported by Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System, the Ada T. Payne Friends of the Urban Libraries, and the Robert W. Saunders Foundation. The library also has a partnership with Booker T. Washington Elementary School, and a physical walkway connects the two buildings. [12]

Instrumental to the library's success is the Ada T. Payne Friends of Urban Libraries organization, started in 2003. This is the Friends of Libraries group for the Robert W. Saunders Sr. Branch. Some specific highlights in terms of fundraisers that the group engages the community in are Jazz in the Stacks and Crowns and Teas. Robert Saunders, C. Blythe Andrews, and West Tampa Branch are the Tampa libraries which benefit from the organizational efforts of this group; [13] and their close relationship to the nearby school has also influenced the Saunders branch development in terms of ease of access for the local students. In May 2009, groundbreaking was held for a walkway to connect the library with Booker T. Washington Elementary School. It was open for use by the students in September of the same year. [14]

Recognition

On October 18, 2019, the branch's Administrative Librarian Mrs. Carrie Hurst was honored with the 2020 Jean Key Gates Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of South Florida School of Information. The award recognizes "alumnus whose outstanding professional career achievements serve as a role model for all information science graduates". [15] The Alice G. Smith Lecture featuring Jessamyn West (librarian) was held in connection with the recognition.

Special collections and Attributes

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hillsborough County, Florida</span> County in Florida, United States

Hillsborough County is a county located in the west-central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. In the 2020 census, the population was 1,459,762, making it the fourth-most populous county in Florida and the most populous county outside the Miami metropolitan area. A 2021 estimate has the population of Hillsborough County at 1,512,070 people with a yearly growth rate of 1.34%, which itself is greater than the populations of 12 states according to their 2019 population estimates. Its county seat and largest city is Tampa. Hillsborough County is part of the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater Metropolitan Statistical Area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ybor City</span> Neighborhood in Hillsborough County, Florida, US

Ybor City is a historic neighborhood just northeast of downtown Tampa, Florida, United States. It was founded in the 1880s by Vicente Martinez-Ybor and other cigar manufacturers and populated by thousands of immigrants, mainly from Cuba, Spain, and Italy. For the next 50 years, workers in Ybor City's cigar factories rolled hundreds of millions of cigars annually.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Tampa</span> District in Florida, United States

West Tampa is one of the oldest neighborhoods within the city limits of Tampa, Florida, United States. It was an independently incorporated city from 1895 until 1925, when it was annexed by Tampa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ybor City Historic District</span> Historic district in Florida, United States

The Ybor City Historic District is a U.S. National Historic Landmark District located in Ybor City, Tampa, Florida. The district is bounded by 6th Avenue, 13th Street, 10th Avenue and 22nd Street, East Broadway between 13th and 22nd Streets. Ybor City contains a total of 956 historic buildings, including an unparalleled collection of architecture with Spanish-Cuban influence, as well as historic cigar factory buildings and associated infrastructure. The area was developed by businessman Vicente Martinez Ybor beginning in 1886, and was for a time the world's leading supplier of cigars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tampa Free Library</span> United States historic place

For other Carnegie Libraries, see Carnegie library (disambiguation)

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blanche Armwood</span> American activist

Blanche Mae Armwood (1890–1939), educator, activist and the first African-American woman in the state of Florida to graduate from an accredited law school. Armwood was also the first Executive Secretary of the Tampa Urban League and a founder of five Household Industrial Arts Schools for African-American women in five different states. Armwood High School in Seffner, Florida is named in her honor.

The Tampa–Hillsborough County Public Library System (THPL) is a public library system based in Hillsborough County, Florida. THPL is part of two larger library networks, the Tampa Bay Library Consortium, and the Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative which includes Temple Terrace Public Library in Temple Terrace, Florida, and Bruton Memorial Library in Plant City, Florida. There are 33 branches of the Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative. Services provided by the THPL include internet access, public meeting room spaces, interlibrary loans, a Bookmobile, a Cybermobile for Spanish speakers, technology classes, adult literacy programs, and downloadable eBooks. Drive-thru windows for returns and hold pick-ups are located at the Jimmie B. Keel and the Jan Kaminis Platt Regional Libraries. In 2017, THPL introduced the new HAAL Pass, which gives access to certain library resources to all students in the Hillsborough County Public Schools System. Students use their student ID number to use different online databases, borrow up to three physical items and read eBooks. The Tampa–Hillsborough County Public Library System is also a part of Hillsborough County government. On January 1, 2018, the library cooperative became one of the largest in the country to go fine free. Overdue fees for borrowed materials were eliminated with the implementation of the "Just Bring It Back" initiative. In 2019 the cooperative received the FLA Library of the Year Award. Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library was recognized for its community focused initiatives as it "reorganized its staffing model and eliminated overdue fines, yielding $1 million in savings while increasing access to library resources and expanding opportunities for community engagement through unique, scalable programs."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">L'Unione Italiana</span>

L'Unione Italiana, (also known as The Italian Club), is a historic social society in Tampa's Ybor City neighborhood. The group's building was designed by Tampa architect M. Leo Elliott. It is located at 1731 East Seventh Avenue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Tampa Free Public Library</span> Building in Tampa, Florida

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References

  1. ↑ Jeffery, Ashley "New Tampa library branch is unique African-American history research facility", Bay News 9,August 30, 2015
  2. ↑ "Adobe Creative Cloud | HCPLC". www.hcplc.org. Retrieved 2019-10-28.
  3. ↑ Salcines, E.J. "The Italian Club of Tampa". The Italian Club. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  4. ↑ "Robert W. Saunders Sr. Public Library", Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative
  5. ↑ Leto, Manny "Urban Renewal in Ybor City", TAMPA HISTORY, 2008
  6. ↑ "A Guiding Force In Civil Rights", Robert W. Saunders Sr. Library Foundation, 2015
  7. ↑ "Robert W. Saunders Sr. Public Library", Hillsborough County Government
  8. ↑ "Architecture Construction Design". Architecture Construction Design. Retrieved 2015-10-08.
  9. ↑ "Ybor City Branch Library Will Be Opened Tuesday". Tampa Tribune. 15 October 1933. p. 18.
  10. ↑ Quinn, Alexis "New Saunders Library To Be Built In Tampa In 2014", 83 Degrees, October 15, 2013
  11. ↑ "Italian Club Will Show Movies of Coronation". Tampa Tribune. 19 November 1933. p. 15.
  12. ↑ Lake, Lenora (9 September 2015). "Robert W. Saunders Sr. Public Library celebrates the rich history of Tampa Central Avenue district". The Tampa Tribune. TBO. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
  13. ↑ Brown, Mary; Staton, Brenda (June 2012). "Interview with the Ada T. Payne Friends of the Urban Libraries at the Robert W. Saunders, Sr. Public Library" (Interview). Interviewed by Library History Roadshow. Tampa, FL. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  14. ↑ "Robert Saunders Library History", Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library
  15. ↑ "Alumni". usf.edu alumni & giving. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  16. ↑ "Robert W. Saunders, Sr. Public Library | HCPLC". www.hcplc.org. Retrieved 2018-10-23.
  17. ↑ "File Not Found | HCPLC".
  18. ↑ "Black Superheroes and Comic Creators Descend on Tampa for AfroCon". 31 March 2019.
  19. ↑ "PLG | Commitments and questions".
  20. ↑ "Universal Declaration of Human Rights".

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