19 Facts About Miriam Matthews

Miriam Matthews was an American librarian, advocate for intellectual freedom, historian, and art collector.

In 1927, Matthews became the first credentialed African American librarian to be hired by the Los Angeles Public Library.

Miriam Matthews was born in Pensacola, Florida in 1905, the second of three children born to Fannie Elijah and Reuben Hearde Miriam Matthews.

Miriam Matthews's family moved to Los Angeles from the Jim Crow South in search of greater opportunities and freedom from racial segregation when she was two years old.

Miriam Matthews graduated high school in 1922, and spent two years at the University of California, Southern Branch.

Miriam Matthews subsequently transferred to Berkeley, where she earned her bachelor's degree in 1926 and a certificate in librarianship in 1927.

Miriam Matthews was a vocal advocate for intellectual freedom and the right to read without censorship.

Miriam Matthews opposed the banning of controversial works, including Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf.

Later, while working at the Helen Hunt Jackson branch, Miriam Matthews discovered "a small collection of books on the Negro" and began building that into a substantial research collection documenting the contributions made by African Americans to California's history and culture.

Miriam Matthews rose to the position of branch librarian within 10 years, but felt that her career was stagnating.

Miriam Matthews took a leave of absence to earn a master's degree in library science from the University of Chicago Graduate Library School in 1945.

Miriam Matthews amassed a collection of approximately 4,600 black-and-white photographs documenting the African American experience in Los Angeles and California, including scenes depicting the founding of the city, African American stagecoach drivers and overland guides to California, and the multiracial californio family of Pio Pico.

Miriam Matthews loaned art from her collections to institutions such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, the Long Beach Art Museum, and California African American Museum.

Miriam Matthews was an active member of the Los Angeles Negro Art Association.

Miriam Matthews was active on numerous groups promoting libraries and black history, as well as other issues.

Miriam Matthews was named to the California Heritage Preservation Commission, and in 1979 she played a key role in the establishment of an archive program for the city of Los Angeles.

In 1996, Miriam Matthews moved to Mercer Island, Washington to be near her nephew.

In 1982, Miriam Matthews was awarded the first annual Titus Alexander Award in recognition of her work documenting the history and achievements of African Americans in California.

Later that same year, Miriam Matthews was the only southern Californian to be awarded one of nine Awards of Merit from the California Historical Society.