Pura Belpre Way (Manhattan)
Present name:None
Location:At the northeast corner of 109th Street and Lexington Avenue
Honoree: Pura Belpre (1899-1982) was the first Puerto Rican Librarian in New York State. She was born in Cidra, Puerto Rico and after moving to New York, began working in the garment industry and then became the Hispanic Assistant at the 135th Street Library. During her tenure there, she created outreach programming in Spanish, which was unheard of at the time. It was at the 135th Street Library that she found her love for storytelling. She began her formal schooling in 1926 at the Library School of the New York Public Library. In 1929, she was transferred to the 115th Street Library, where she would stay for the rest of her career. There she instituted bilingual story hours and incorporated traditional Puerto Rican holidays into the Library’s schedule. In 1932, she published her first book, Pérez and Martina, which was a folk tale her grandmother used to tell her. It was the first Puerto Rican book to be read at story time in the Library’s history. In addition to her work within the library system, she helped compile the Archivo de Documentación Puertorriqueña, which collects original Puerto Rican documents. She wrote short stories and compiled The Tiger and the Rabbit and Other Tales, the first collection of Puerto Rican stories to be published in English in the United States. After her husband's death in 1960, she resumed her part time work at the 115th Library as the Spanish Children’s Specialist; however, she also travelled to other areas in New York City that had a high concentration of Puerto Rican children to ensure that they had a library to go to. After retiring in 1968, she helped establish the South Bronx Library Project, which promotes and provides library use and services to Latino communities in the Bronx. She helped the NYPL address the needs of the Spanish-speaking community throughout the city. Her legacy can still be seen today, helping the Spanish-speaking community to utilize and feel welcome in our public libraries. (Ayala)
LL:2022/54