Using her $500 grant from Julius Rosenwald, Vivian Harsh visited libraries serving black communities in New York, Washington, D.C., Cleveland, Detroit and Newark, New Jersey. From these, she drew up a list of 300 essential books for readers interested in black literature and history.
To acquire them for her Chicago library, she solicited donations and appealed to booksellers. And, she continued adding volumes above that number. When she retired in 1958, her library's Special Negro Collection had 2,000 books, plus newspaper clippings, pamphlets and manuscripts. All this accomplished while she ran the library.
And, she was a neatness person. En route to her desk each morning, she would stop and pick up even the smallest scrap of paper.. She was constantly telling her employees about the importance of keeping the premises neat and clean.
Sadly, she was extremely private about her personal life and never wrote anything about it. That is why her archives are now being examined to piece together her life.
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