Above: A WPA-supported bookmobile in Athens County, Ohio, between 1935 and 1943. Photo from the National Archives.
Above: Here is a bookmobile for Athens County, Ohio, today. Website screengrab from June 14, 2026; image used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.
Above: A WPA bookmobile in South Dakota, between 1935 and 1943. WPA bookmobile services were very popular in South Dakota with trucks being emptied out by borrowers and being forced to increase their inventory. "Western novels by Zane Grey are the most popular in the range country... There are many requests for 'Free Land,' the novel of homesteading by Rose Wilder Lane, and for books dealing with the history of South Dakota. Books on crafts and hobbies also are in demand" ("WPA Bookmobile Popularity Grows," Associated Press, in The Rapid City Daily Journal, March 6, 1939, p. 2). Photo from the National Archives.
Above: A close-up of a section of the previous photo.
Above: A WPA bookmobile in Thomas County, Georgia, between 1935 and 1943. Photo from the National Archives.
Above: The description for this photograph--taken between 1935 and 1943--reads: "Photograph of a traveling library. Through employment of WPA drivers and librarians lending libraries are now carrying books into rural areas and isolated sections in many parts of the United States. The traveling library shown above is part of an extension library project at Des Moines, Iowa." Photo from the National Archives.
Above: Children in Littlerock, Washington (Thurston County), utilizing a WPA bookmobile, April 1939. Washington state's WPA director said the WPA bookmobile was meant to address the "deplorable lack of libraries in rural areas" ("Bookmobile In Service: Library Facilities Are Provided Thurston Rural Areas," The Tacoma New Tribune (Tacoma, Washington), May 4, 1939, p. 13). Photo from the National Archives.
Above: Children inside the WPA bookmobile in Littlerock, Washington (Thurston County, see previous photo). Today in Thurston County, it seems that the bookmobile spirit lives on with the "Anywhere Library." Photo from the National Archives.
Above: A WPA-supported bookmobile visits the Boone Station Grade School, Clark County, Ohio, between 1935 and 1943. Photo from the National Archives.
Above: Children inside the Clark County WPA bookmobile (see previous photo). Photo from the National Archives.
Above: Library workers await visitors to their WPA-supported bookmobile operation, in Rusk County, Texas, May 1939. Photo from the National Archives.
Above: Newspaper archives are packed full of articles highlighting the novelty, benefits, and popularity of WPA bookmobiles, as well as communities trying to continue bookmobile services after the WPA began to wind down and also after its termination in mid-1943. It is clear that WPA bookmobiles had a tremendous impact on library services and philosophy, perhaps even being the key moment in the history of bookmobiles and the history of library service to rural areas. The newspaper excerpt above is from The Atlanta Journal, December 19, 1942, p. 12. Image from newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.
Above: Exploring newspaper archives will lead the researcher to many articles like this one. This article excerpt is from the Winchester Evening Star (Winchester, Virginia), March 18, 1960, p. 14. Image from newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.
Above: Whether by bookmobile, packhorse, horse & carriage, boat, or a newly-constructed library building, the New Deal was determined to get more books and information to more Americans. The WPA librarian you see above is bringing books to tenant farmers in Issaquena County, Mississippi, between 1935 and 1943. Photo from the National Archives.
New Deal Bookmobile
In March 1940, there were 115 WPA bookmobiles traveling into the rural regions of America, assisting libraries in delivering reading materials to remote places. The response from communities and rural readers was so favorable that by April of the next year there were over 200 WPA bookmobiles: "Bookmobiles reach people literally starved for something to read. Wherever there is a scheduled bookmobile stop within walking distance, somebody from each family--sometimes several from the same family--will walk through rain, snow, or burning sun to select and exchange reading materials. Down in Louisiana they pole flat-bottomed boats and take their old folks and their babies to meet the bookmobile when it stops nearby" (statistic and quote from a widely published article, "WPA 'Bookmobiles' Reach Rural Readers," appearing in, for example, The Planters Press (Bossier City, Louisiana), April 24, 1941).
"Back in 'the good ole days,' a huge colorful van, almost a double-decker, would come lumbering down country roads throughout Buncombe County. It was loaded to the rafters with books. Picture books. First readers. Novels. Paperbacks. In the summertime, children and grown-ups would wait under any handy shade tree to catch the first sight of the big, blue bookmobile. That was years ago, in the days of the WPA... the Buncombe County Bookmobile was one of those [WPA] projects set up to transport books to children in rural areas... The Bookmobile of Buncombe County program is still rolling along. Today it also serves daycare centers in Asheville and nursing homes in the city and out in the county."
--Freda Barry, "Bookmobile: Depression-Era Program Still Serving Its Mission," The Asheville Citizen (Asheville, North Carolina) June 25, 1985, p. 4.
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