Andrews, Regina

Librarian, author, civic leader and community activist. Regina Andrews was born in Chicago in 1901 and migrated to New York City in the early 1920s. Her job at the 135th Street Branch of the New York Public Library placed her in contact with many of the personalities of the Harlem Renaissance and her home was an intellectual and social meeting place for many of the writers and other artists of the period. A writer herself, Andrews was a founder of the Harlem Experimental Theatre. Two of her plays, "Climbing Jacob's Ladder" (1925) and "Underground" (1931) were produced by the group.

In 1949 Andrews was appointed Supervising Librarian of the Washington Heights Branch of the New York Public Library, a post she held until her retirement in 1967. She inaugurated a special library community outreach program which ran for thirteen years. Billed as "Family Night at the Library", this series concentrated on the social, political and cultural life of Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America and South East Asia as well as on Afro-American history and culture. Distinguished scholars, artists, writers, statesmen and representatives of various governments participated, and the programs were supplemented by exhibitions of art and artifacts and by annotated bibliographies.

Apart from her library career and creative interests, Andrews maintained a variety of civic interests as well. She served on the boards of several organizations including the National Council of Women of the United States, of which she was a Vice-President, and represented the National Urban League as a member of the United States National Commission for UNESCO. Regina Andrews died in 1993.

From the guide to the Regina Andrews papers, 1920-1987, (The New York Public Library. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division.)