Sadie Peterson Delaney

Sadie Peterson Delaney (February 26, 1889 – May 4, 1958 ) was the chief librarian of the Veterans Administration Hospital in Tuskegee, Alabama, for 34 years. She is well known as a pioneer for her work with bibliotherapy.

Biography Sadie M. Peterson in a 1915 photo from The Quill, the Parish newsletter of the Smith Metropolitan AME Zion Church in Poughkeepsie, NY. Sadie Peterson Delaney, daughter of Julia Frances Hawkins Johnson and James Johnson, was born on February 26, 1889, in Rochester, New York. She attended high school in Poughkeepsie, New York, and also spent one year at Miss McGovern's School of Social Work. She was active in the Smith Metropolitan AME Zion Church where she was recognized for her poetry and activities that ranged from being a Sabbath School teacher, to being a member of the sewing circle, to being President of the J. W. Hood Literary Society.

She attended college at the College of the City of New York, graduating in 1919. She went on to receive her library training at the New York Public Library School from 1920 to 1921. Delaney had one daughter named Grace with her first husband, Edward Louis Peterson. They divorced in 1924, and she married Rudicel A. Delaney in 1928. Delaney had a heart attack and died in Tuskegee, Alabama, on May 4, 1958.

Career

New York Public Library Delaney continued her work at the New York Public Library after she completed her training. She worked at the 135th Street Branch in Harlem through 1923. She worked diligently to increase the programs available for children of different ethnic backgrounds. She ran story hours, discussion groups, and other events for children. Some of the events were geared specifically toward juvenile delinquents, foreign-born children or blind children.

Bibliotherapy Delaney used bibliotherapy extensively in her work. She defined bibliotherapy as, “the treatment of patients through selected reading.”

To complement her work with books and bibliotherapy, Delaney developed many special programs for the patients. She instituted book talks, monthly program meetings, a story hour and a variety of other clubs. She could share her own interests in some of the groups, such as the stamp and coin collecting clubs. She tried diligently to get all of the veterans involved with clubs and library activities. She ran a book cart program so that patients confined to their beds still had access to reading material. and the American Library Association (ALA), where she served on the Council from 1946 to 1951. She was invited to give speeches at American universities, community churches and a conference in Rome in 1934. The Sadie Peterson Delaney African Roots Branch Library reopened on April 9, 2022 as a fully circulating library of the Poughkeepsie Public Library District in the Mid-Hudson Library System to honor Delaney's legacy of literacy. The New York Public Library has acquired and archived a large quantity of Delaney's personal letters. Delaney was recognized as one of the 100 most important leaders of the 20th century by American Libraries. In 2015, a non-profit organization by the name of Words Heal, Inc. was also named the Sadie Peterson Delaney Literary Collaborative, in her honor. The organization promotes bibliotherapy as a complement to conventional therapies and treatments for mental wellness.

Authored Articles Peterson SM. The Library; A Factor in Negro Education. The Messenger 1923 July;5 (7): 772-773.

Peterson SM. U.S.V. Hospital Library No.91, Tuskegee, Ala. Crisis a Record of the Darker Races 1925 Jan;29 (3): 116-117.

Delaney SP. The Library—A Factor in Veterans' Bureau Hospitals. Medical Bulletin 1930 Apr;6 (4): 331-334.

Delaney SP. The Negro Veteran and His Books. Wilson Bulletin for Librarians 1932 Jun;6 (10): 684-686.

Delaney SP. Bibliotherapy as an Aid to Rehabilitation. Journal National Association College Women 1935; (12): 9-11.

Delaney SP. The Place of Bibliotherapy in a Hospital. Opportunity Journal of Negro Life 1938 Feb;16 (2): 53-56.

Delaney SP. Place of Bibliotherapy in a Hospital. Library Journal 1938 April;63: 305-308. (Reprinted from Opportunity Journal of Negro Life)

Delaney SP. Library Activities at Tuskegee. Medical Bulletin of the Veterans' Administration 1940 Oct;17 (2): 163-169.

Delaney SP. Bibliography on Bibliotherapy. Bulletin of Bibliography 1951 Sep-Dec:135.

Delaney SP. Time's Telling. Wilson Library Bulletin 1955 Feb;29 (6): 461-463.

Delaney SP. Bibliotherapy for patients in Antabuse clinic. Hospital Book Guide 1955 Oct;16 (8); 141-143.

Featured Articles American Hospital Librarian Honoured. Book Trolley (England) 1950 Summer; 6:38-39.

Bauer HC. Seasoned to Taste. Wilson Library Bulletin 1955 Feb; 29 (6): 404.

Brown EF. Origins and Pioneers. In: Bibliotherapy and its Widening Applications. Metuchen: Sage 1975: 13-38.

Cantrell CH. Sadie P. Delaney: Bibliotherapist and Librarian. Southeastern Librarian 1956 Fall; 6(3): 1105-109. (Reprinted, Congressional Record, Appendix 1957 Jan 17: A266-A267.)

Dibble Eh. The Veterans' Administration Facility for Negro Beneficiaries, Tuskegee, Ala. Medical Bulletin of the Veterans' Administration 1940 Oct;17(2): 158-162.

Favazza Ar. Bibliotherapy: A Critique of the Literature. Bulletin of the Medical Library Association 1966 Apr;54(2): 138-141.

Gubert BK. Sadie Peterson Delaney: Pioneer Bibliotherapist. American Libraries 1993 Feb:12(2): 124-130.

Hospital Libraries: Veterans Administration Hospital, Tuskegee, Alabama. Book Trolley (England) 1938 April;17(1): 346-347.

Jones, VL. Delaney, Sadie Peterson (1889-1959) In: Dictionary of American Library Biography. Littleton, Colorado: Libraries Unlimited, 1978:122-124.

McDougald EJ. The Task of Negro Womanhood. In: Locke A, ed. The New Negro. New York: Johnson Reprint Corporation, 1968: 369-384.

Oppenheim G. Bibliotherapy—A new work for your vocabulary. (Bloemfontein, South Africa) Cape Times 1938 Jan 15:3.

Pomeroy E. U.S. Veterans' Hospital Library Service. Library Journal 1975 Mar;50(6): 253-256.

Schneck JM A Bibliography on Bibliotherapy and Libraries in Mental Hospitals. Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic 1945 Sept;9 (5): 170-174.

Sprague MD. Dr. Sadie Peterson Delaney "Great Humanitarian." Service 1951 June;15(11): 17-18, 25-26.

Roosevelt, E. My Day. New York Post 1957 Jan 18:3.

The Tuskegee Controversy Daniel P. Black Power in the 1920's: The Case of Tuskegee Veterans Hospital. Journal of Southern History 1970; 36(3): 368-388.

Marable M. Tuskegee and the Politics of Illusion in the New South. Black Scholar 1977; 8(7): 13-24.

Marable M. Tuskegee Institute in the 1920's. Negro History Bulletin 1977; 40(6): 764-768.

Matthews, CS. The Decline of the Tuskegee Machine, 1915-1925: the Abdication of Political Power South Atlantic Quarterly 1976; 74(4): 460-469.

Norrell, RJ, Perfect Quiet, Peace and Harmony: Another Look at the Founding of Tuskegee Institute. Alabama Review 1983.; 36(2): 110-128

Powell RH How the U.S. Government Broke Faith with the Blacks and Whites of Tuskegee. Birmingham Daily News, July [?], 1923. Clipping in National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Records (Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.).

Walton LA. Southern Opinion on the Tuskegee Hospital. Outlook 1923 Sept 5;85:14-16.