Woodson Regional · Chicago, IL
Join us for a special Harsh Readers Circle event as we continue to celebrate Black history and literature by exploring Black women’s legacy in the Chicago Black Renaissance as innovators, literary creators, builders of cultural spaces and cultural stewards. We will engage this vital history through the lesser-known but significant legacy of a trailblazing Black librarian and information professional. Artist and independent scholar Ann C. Saunders will reflect on the life and work of her mother in the presentation “Black Women’s Literary Reception and Practice: The Incomparable Doris E. Saunders”. Doris E. Saunders (1921-2014), was a Bronzeville native and information professional whose career spanned public librarianship and Black publishing. At Chicago Public Library, Doris E. Saunders worked with Vivian Harsh and Charlemae Hill Rollins at the Hall Branch as a Principal Reference Librarian, and in the Social Science and Business Department at the Main Library. In 1949, she became the librarian for the Negro Digest Publishing Company, later Johnson Publishing Company, where she built its corporate library. She later understood this work as information management and a form of intellectual entrepreneurship. This talk invites a closer look at Saunders, whose legacy is preserved in the Doris E. Saunders Papers at the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection, and the role she played in shaping information circulation within Black literary and publishing networks, suggesting new ways to understand her place in that history. This program will continue conversations from the Harsh Readers Circle's June 2026 selection, Reading the Renaissance: Black Women's Literary Reception and Taste in Chicago, 1932-1953. To learn more about the history that “Black Women’s Literary Reception and Practice: The Incomparable Doris E. Saunders” will expand on, please join us on Saturday, June 20th, 2026 at 2 p.m. for the first Readers Circle meeting of the 2026-2027 season. Wednesday, June 24th | 6 p.m. to 7:45p.m. 6:00 p.m. | Dinner reception (with warm refreshments) 6:30 p.m. | Presentation with Ann C. Saunders7:30 p.m. | Shared conversations and program conclusion This in-person presentation is also offered virtually. To attend in person, please click on the Register button (located in the upper-right corner of this event page if viewing on desktop display, or at the bottom of the event post if viewing on a mobile device). To attend online, register at bit.ly/4cOEzfE or click this link. For more information, please email 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 public program offerings, which invites participants to actively engage with the rich and often untold stories of Black history and heritage preserved at Chicago Public Library. About the Speaker Ann C. Saunders is a mixed‑media artist and educator whose recent work focuses on preserving and advancing awareness of her mother, Doris E. Saunders, an underrecognized twentieth‑century information professional whose career spanned librarianship, publishing, education, media, and genealogy. This work grows out of Ann Saunders' role as compiler of the unpublished memoirNot Just a Plain Born American Girl (©2022). She earned a BFA from the University of Illinois at Urbana‑Champaign and an MFA from Syracuse University. She worked as an award-winning designer before entering higher education in 1986, later becoming a tenured Associate Professor at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She has also taught at the Art Institute of Washington and Tougaloo College. Accessibility Need sign language interpretation or other accessibility assistance for this event? Please call (312) 747-8184 or email access@chipublib.org to request accommodations. Requests must be made at least 14 business days before the event. Photo credit: Doris Saunders, circa late 1940s. Doris E. Saunders Papers, Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection at Chicago Public Library
