Black Women’s Literary Reception and Taste:
The Incomparable Doris E. Saunders
Wednesday, June 24
Reception at 6 p.m.
Talk at 6:30 p.m.
Join the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection on June 24, 6–7:45 p.m., for a special presentation: Black Women’s Literary Reception and Practice: The Incomparable Doris E. Saunders.
Artist and independent scholar Ann C. Saunders will reflect on the life and legacy of her mother, Doris E. Saunders (1921–2014), a Bronzeville native, librarian, and pioneering information professional whose career spanned public librarianship and Black publishing.
During her Chicago Public Library career, Doris Saunders worked with Vivian Harsh and Charlemae Hill Rollins as a Principal Reference Librarian and later joined the Negro Digest Publishing Company (Johnson Publishing Company) as its librarian, where she built its corporate library. Saunders later understood this work as information management and a form of intellectual entrepreneurship.
This talk invites a closer look at the role Doris E. Saunders played in shaping information circulation within Black literary and publishing networks and suggests new ways of understanding her place in that history. This program is also presented in conjunction with the Harsh Readers Circle’s June 2026 book selection Reading the Renaissance: Black Women’s Literary Reception and Taste in Chicago, 1932-1953. Join us for this Readers Circle on June 20th to learn more about this history and gain valuable context for the special presentation, Black Women’s Literary Reception and Practice: The Incomparable Doris E. Saunders, on June 24th!
The library Doris Saunders created now lives on at the Stony Island Arts Bank, and her personal papers are preserved at the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection, the largest African American history and literature collection in the Midwest.
Register for the in-person program athttps://tinyurl.com/4a747s9p, or
Join virtually:https://tinyurl.com/2ywra7p7
Join us for warm refreshments before the 6:30 p.m. talk. For more information, contact harshcollection@chipublib.org.
This program is made possible with generous support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Chicago Public Library Foundation as part of Chicago Public Library’s Renaissance Project.
UPCOMING EVENTS AND CURRENT PROGRAMS FROM THE HARSH RESEARCH COLLECTION
SPECIAL COLLECTIONS MICROFILM 101
Thursday, June 4th, 2026, 6:30-7:30 p.m.
Do you find yourself longing for the days of handheld newspapers, tape decks, and newspaper articles without comment sections? Do you gaze nostalgically at hand painted signs or old buildings? Or maybe you’re just aching to work with analog materials again (or give them a spin for the first time!) and aren’t sure where to start. Special Collections Microfilm 101 is a workshop for you!
Step into the halls of history with a workshop session about the unpredictable intrigue, socially enjoyable experience of using microfilm. This session will cover how to load and use a microfilm reader, review reel guides, and navigate microfilm reels of historical issues of EBONY magazine, JET, and others in the Harsh Collection.
Register at https://tinyurl.com/rxkjhfad.
EXHIBITS
PRAISE AND PROTEST: VOICES FROM THE CHICAGO BLACK RENAISSANCE
Exhibit in the Harsh Research Collection’s Gallery, Woodson Regional Library, 9525 S. Halsted Street
September 17th, 2025 – August 27th, 2026
Open during Harsh’s public hours
The exhibit Praise and Protest: Voices from the Chicago Black Renaissance shines light on the intersection of art and literary movements during Chicago Black Renaissance. Highlighting figures such as Margaret Burroughs, Marion Perkins, Gordon Parks, Charles White, Gwendolyn Brooks, Richard Wright, Langston Hughes, William McBride Jr., and places like the South Side Community Art Center, the exhibit introduces the interplay between their activism protesting social injustice and celebration of Black artistic and literary genius.
This exhibit was made possible with generous support from the Getty Foundation and the Chicago Public Library Foundation.
Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection
Chicago Public Library | Carter G. Woodson Regional Library
9525 South Halsted Street | Chicago, IL 60628
312.745.2080 | https://www.chipublib.org/harsh
Harsh public hours: Tu. – Th., 1pm – 5pm; 3rd Sat., 1pm-4pm| Request an appointment
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