Veritable Miracle: Situating Black Women Librarian Networks within a Feminist Historical Paradigm

This article explores Black women’s librarian networks in early twen-tieth-century Chicago, inspired by Mary Niles Maack’s (1945–2023) groundbreaking research on women’s history in librarianship and her historical methodology. To this end, the article first evaluates Maack’s primary methodologies employed in her historical inquiries and examines their efficacy. Four key characteristics of Maack’s approach are identified: placing librarianship within “a larger context,” employing latitude and longitude comparisons, embracing theories beyond the library and information sciences field, and adopting a critical and feminist perspective. The article then demonstrates the extension of these methodologies by examining the collective pres-ence of Black women librarians in early twentieth-century Chicago. This overview not only demonstrates Maack’s methodologies in practice but also highlights their effectiveness in reading the nuanced contributions and experiences of Black women in librarianship. The text explores the often-overlooked networks of Black women librar-ians, drawing from the concepts of “a veritable miracle” and “rec-onciliation,” and asserts the significance of Maack’s methodologies for broader historical investigations and their utility in uncovering underrepresented narratives in the history of librarianship.