Clarence R. Graham

{{Short description|American librarian}}

{{infobox officeholder

| name = Clarence R. Graham

|image=Clarence R. Graham.png

| office = President of the American Library Association

| term_start = 1950

| term_end = 1951

| predecessor = Milton E. Lord

| successor = Loleta Dawson Fyan

| birth_name = Clarence Reginald Graham

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1907|02|28}}

| birth_place = Louisville, Kentucky, US

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1989|01|28|1907|02|28}}

| death_place = Louisville, Kentucky, US

| occupation = Librarian

}}

Clarence Reginald "Skip" Graham (February 28, 1907 – January 28, 1989)Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, US: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2011. was a prominent librarian and leader in the profession. He was president of the American Library Association from 1950 to 1951.{{cite web|title=ALAs Past Presidents|url=http://www.ala.org/aboutala/history/past|publisher=American Library Association|accessdate=7 March 2016|date=2007-11-20}}

Graham served as director of the Louisville Public Library for 35 years (1942–1977). In 1952, under his leadership, the Louisville Free Public Library became the first public library in the South to open its main library to African Americans.{{cite web|last1=Jordan|first1=Casper LeRoy|last2=Josey|first2=E.J.|title=A Chronology of Events in Black Librarianship|url=http://www.nathanielturner.com/blacklibrarians.htm|website=Chicken Bones: A Journal|accessdate=8 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160216134804/http://www.nathanielturner.com/blacklibrarians.htm|archive-date=16 February 2016|url-status=dead}} He became a national figure in the 1950s when he and the Mayor of Louisville, Kentucky, Charles Farnsley, made the public library a model for communities nationwide. Their partnership included a library-based radio station (WFPL) in 1950; concerts and university lectures in the libraries; and 16-mm movies and prints of works of art you could check out. Graham retired in the early 1970s.{{cite news|last1=Runyon|first1=Keith|title=Saluting Craig Buthod, Louisville's Librarian|url=http://wfpl.org/saluting-craig-buthod-louisvilles-librarian/|accessdate=8 March 2016|work=89.3 WFPL|date=November 13, 2014}}{{cite news|title='Skip' Graham, who led Louisville library, dies|work=Louisville Courier-Journal|date=January 26, 1989|location=Louisville, Kentucky|page=6}}

Graham was president of the American Library Association during the organizations 75th Anniversary Celebration.{{cite web|title=Clarence R. Graham Papers, 1941-1955|url=http://archives.library.illinois.edu/alaarchon/?p=collections/controlcard&id=7448|website=The American Library Association Archives|publisher=University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign|accessdate=8 March 2016}}