Harsh Readers Circle Inspired by Legendary Librarian’s Example—Named After Her, Too

It is a self-evident truth that Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection namesake lives in our heads rent-free… or at least that’s true for Harsh Research Collection staff. Her storied career is the stuff of legend.

In fact, unit head Raquel Flores-Clemons appeared on WBEZ’s “Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons” at the end of Black History Month 2025 just to talk about the legendary librarian.

A native of the city, Vivian Harsh was the first Black library director in the Chicago Public Library system and started the Special Negro Collection—the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection’s ancestor—in the 1930s. And she was a socialite, too! (An excellent way to network and raise funds in service of growing the collection, if you ask me.)

Another of Harsh's awe-inspiring feats was creating the Book Review and Lecture Forum. In the March 29, 1941 issue of The Chicago Defender, no less than Harlem Renaissance and Chicago Black Renaissance titan Arna Bontemps—poet, novelist, and librarian (!)—said this:

The library conducts a program of varied related activities, some directed toward adults, some meant to supplement the work with children. Chief among the adult activities is the Book Review and Lecture Forum, now in its eighth season. This circle aims to enrich the leisure time of confirmed readers while at the same time it brings to the library others who may not be familiar with all its services. It seeks to draw attention to books and authors which might not otherwise be discovered by every reader. Above all, it aims to develop through discussions the critical faculties of its members.

In the article “Vivian Harsh, Adult Education, and the Library’s Role as Community Center,” Laura Burt wrote: “Of other African American libraries, only the 135^th Street Branch of the New York Public Library had a documented history of rich community gatherings and a strong African American collection [as the Great Depression took hold and decimated public libraries’ budgets].”

The Harsh Readers Circle is inspired by this example, meeting the third Saturday of every month—except December—at the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection  located inside the Woodson Regional Library at 9525 S. Halsted Street at 2 p.m. A staple program, the Circle is a book club devoted to reading and discussing Black literature—fiction and non-fiction.

We invite you to join the Harsh Readers Circle’s 40^th anniversary season that begins this summer. Take a look at our choices for the 2025-2026 season. 

The last Circle gathering for the 2024-2025 year occurred on May 17. Participants discussed Wild Women and the Blues, a novel set in the hurly-burly of 1920s Bronzeville.

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Other selections from the past season include One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia, Safiya Umoja Noble’s Algorithms of Oppression  in April and “The Billboard,” a play written by Natalie Moore in March. (This blog post provides more information about Natalie Moore’s use of the Toni Bond Leonard Collection at the Harsh for her research.)

The Circle is fully hybrid through Zoom. Please register for the Zoom meetings if you’d like to join the discussion remotely. 

Contact harshcollection@chipublib.org or (312) 745-2080 with any questions.

The largest African American history and literature collection in the Midwest, the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature documents the Black experience with a strong focus on Chicago.