For one hundred years, Knight Memorial Library has sought to serve the people of Providence and be a welcoming place in increasingly diverse neighborhoods. By the 1920s, Providence was already an official port for immigrants, with new arrivals and their children accounting for more than half of the state’s population: the Irish, French Canadians, Italians, Portuguese, Eastern European Poles among them. With changes in immigration laws in the 1960s, immigrants arrived from Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia, from all over Africa, from Syria and Afghanistan, from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Today, one might meet someone from the Congo, Barbados, or Tibet who has recently arrived.
The Elmwood Public Library Association continued to operate the library until Providence Public Library took over its management in 1962. The Elmwood Library Association merged with Knight Memorial Library Association in 1971, which in turn merged with Providence Public Library in 1995. Since 2009, Knight Memorial became part of Providence Community Library, now known as Community Libraries of Providence. Knight Memorial also benefits from the support of an active and devoted group of volunteers, the Friends of Knight Memorial, who have raised thousands of dollars for the library, built connections with the community and worked to create awareness of this historic building.
Community Libraries of Providence strives to make every library user feel at home and to see themselves reflected and celebrated in the materials, services and programs provided by our libraries. One of the ways we do this is by building special collections of books and materials that serve our communities.
The Edna Frazier Memorial Collection
In 1969, the Edna Frazier Memorial Collection was first established at South Providence Library as a special collection of materials centering around Black culture and honoring Black authors.
Mrs. Edna Frazier was a South Providence resident and active community leader. She served with several school and civic organizations and was also a friend of the Knight Memorial Library. She had a lifelong passion for education. After her death in 1968, it was determined that this historic collection serve as a memorial for her service to the community and to continue her dream of education.
The Collection has grown from an initial 900 books to thousands of volumes that cover the time period from 1619 to the present day, expanding to a second location in Knight Memorial Library. The Collection consists of noted works by Black authors, reference materials, sociological studies, books of poetry, music, sports, biographies, political science, civil rights, and much more.
