COLORADO SPRINGS — “I don't think that she saw color, honestly. I mean, that's just my opinion on it,” said Pikes Peak Library District, Ruth Holley Branch Library Manager, Tess Warren.
It is Black History Month and Warren is sharing some of her research and knowledge about Ruth Holley.
“In 1967, she started working with us with a bookmobile. And in 1973, with the very first East library opening up, she was appointed as the supervisor there. That made her the first black female supervisor in the Pikes Peak Library District, which is pretty cool.”
Holley died in the mid-1980s and the Pikes Peak Library District branch on Murray Boulevard in Colorado Springs is named in her honor.
Holley moved to Colorado Springs when her husband John accepted the job of leading the local Urban League.
In the revised vesion of his book, The Invisible People of the Pikes Peak Region, it offers a glimpse of his wife’s passion for library accessibility.
It tells the story of a man who complained he had to work when the library was open.
Warren said, “She asked, so when are you available, and it just so happens to be after the library was closed. And so she came in, after the library was closed so that he can check out material.”
Holley started with the district at the tail end of the civil rights movement.
There was racial division in many parts of the country.
At the library where Holley worked it was different.
“She was a uniting force, when it came to that time,” said Warren, “Not only was she black, a female, a mom, you know, she was still doing all of these things, [and] connecting people to the resources.”
Current staff working at the Ruth Holley library branch say her legacy is still an influence on their mission of welcoming everyone to the library.
“Throughout her tenure, working with the district, the staff loved her, the patrons loved her. I've read so many different articles about her and, you know I've never read anything negative,” said Warren.
Ruth Holley made her mark in the Black history of Colorado Springs.
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