Lillian Baker Griggs was the first trained librarian to work in North Carolina, shaping both public and academic libraries in the state. She was Durham's library director from 1911-1923, updating the library system and establishing outreach programs. She organized and secured one of the first bookmobile services in the South, extending library service to rural North Carolinians. Griggs also worked as the director of the North Carolina Library Commission (now called the State Library Commission) from 1923-1930, after which she notably took the position as founding librarian of Duke University's Women's College from 1930-1949. She was president of the North Carolina Library Association and the Southeastern Library Association for multiple terms.
Early life Griggs was born on January 8, 1876, in Anderson, South Carolina. Her mother, Cora Wilhite Baker, died when she was four years old and her father, William Baker, was unable to care for Griggs and her infant brother. As a result, Griggs’ maternal grandparents took them in. Her grandfather, Dr. P. A. Wilhite, was an accomplished physician, standing as a member of the South Carolina State Board of Health for many years (notably as the Chairman of the Committee on Sale of Drugs and Medicines).
In the winter of 1884, Grigg’s grandfather bought an orange grove in Jacksonville, Florida.Griggs, Lillian (1949). Memoirs of Lillian Baker Griggs. Duke University Archives, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. p. 7. Griggs reportedly spent much of her childhood traveling south to Florida for the temperate winters, until her grandmother became blind from underlying health issues and traveling became impossible for the family.Griggs, Lillian (1949). Memoirs of Lillian Baker Griggs. Duke University Archives, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. pp. 7-12.
As a young girl, Griggs had an irregular and spotty education, mostly undertaken at home by her grandmother and an aunt. When she turned 12 in 1888, she attended Nora Hubbard’s School.Young, Betty. (1983). Lillian Baker Griggs. In Wayne A. Wiegand (Eds.), Leaders in American Academic Librarianship: 1925-1975. Philadelphia: Beta Phi Mu. p. 125. When she was done with her preliminary schooling, Griggs attended Williamston Female College (15 miles away from her hometown) and graduated in two years. Griggs has said that the curriculum was “most unorthodox,”Griggs, Lillian (1949). Memoirs of Lillian Baker Griggs. Duke University Archives, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. p. 16. with six weeks being given to a singular subject. She wrote in her unpublished memoir that the coursework was “delightful” when it was a humanities subject, but that she “always had a miserable six weeks when math was the subject.”
In the autumn of 1892, Griggs entered the Agnes Scott Institute, attending for 3 years and graduating in 1895.Young, Betty. (1983). Griggs, Lillian Baker. In Wayne A. Wiegand (Eds.), Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, Vol. 2. Chapel Hill, The University of North Carolina Press. p. 373.
Pre-career On Thanksgiving Day, 1892, Griggs attended an Auburn-Georgia Tech Football game in Atlanta, GA with her father.Griggs, Lillian (1949). Memoirs of Lillian Baker Griggs. Duke University Archives, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. pp. 17-18. While there, she met Alfred Flourney Griggs through a family friend. Alfred Griggs was a junior at Atlanta Medical School at the time.
A few years later, Griggs visited Oxford, GA to attend her brother’s commencement ceremony at Emory Academy (Emory University). While staying at a friend's house, Alfred Griggs sought out Griggs to disprove a rumor that she was engaged. Allegedly, the (false) rumor had “disturbed” Alfred, so much so that he had taken the morning train to Oxford and returned to Atlanta that night “with the result that [...] [Lillian Griggs] had promised to marry him.”Griggs, Lillian (1949). Memoirs of Lillian Baker Griggs. Duke University Archives, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. p. 19. The two were married on April 21, 1897, in Anderson, South Carolina.
Grigg’s father initially opposed the marriage, as he wanted her to be a teacher. He had also heard the Griggs family was undesirable. Reflecting on this in the 1940s, Griggs believed that this was an unjust accusation. She stated they were a respectable southern family and had been “wealthy land and slave owners” for generations. Alfred’s father, Dr. Asa Wesley Griggs, had been a confederate surgeon in 1861, serving in the thirty-third Alabama Regiment. Griggs notes the family’s cook, Aunt Ruth, who made their wedding cake, had been enslaved by the family as a girl.Griggs, Lillian (1949). Memoirs of Lillian Baker Griggs. Duke University Archives, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. pp. 25.
Griggs and her husband lived in West Point, Georgia for 18 months. In this time, they had a daughter, who passed away 5 months later.Griggs, Lillian. (1949). Memoirs of Lillian Baker Griggs. Duke University Archives, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. p. 27. The couple moved to Atlanta shortly after to develop Alfred’s doctor practice. There, Lillian gave birth to a son, Alfred Jr, on July 16, 1899. Alfred had little success in Atlanta, and after he spent a short spell studying in New York, the whole family moved to Birmingham, Alabama.Griggs, Lillian (1949). Memoirs of Lillian Baker Griggs. Duke University Archives, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. pp. 28. In August of 1903, Lillian gave birth to her daughter, Imogen. Tragically, the girl died of illness in March of 1905. Griggs wrote later that her death led to the “ending of the happiest period of my life.”Griggs, Lillian (1949). Memoirs of Lillian Baker Griggs. Duke University Archives, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. pp. 29. Soon after the death, in the winter of 1905, Alfred Griggs developed tuberculosis after a life-threatening case of the flu. Adding to Griggs’ stress, her father developed ocular cancer.
The Griggs decided that the best course of action would be to move to the Southwest in hopes that the drier weather would positively impact Alfred’s condition. Alfred Griggs left prior to Lillian and their son, who stayed behind to care for her dying father. Three weeks later, William Baker died in July of 1905.Griggs, Lillian. (1949). Memoirs of Lillian Baker Griggs. Duke University Archives, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. p. 30. Griggs and her son then followed Alfred to Raton, New Mexico. Over the course of the next three years, the family would move from New Mexico to Colorado Springs, Colorado, and later Reno, Nevada as they searched for a place for Alfred to convalesce and successfully open another practice.Griggs, Lillian. (1949). Memoirs of Lillian Baker Griggs. Duke University Archives, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. pp. 31-42. While in Reno, Lillian taught Sunday school at a local Methodist church, and Alfred opened an office with Dr. M.A. Roberson.Griggs, Lillian. (1949). Memoirs of Lillian Baker Griggs. Duke University Archives, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. p. 38.
On November 8, 1908, Alfred suffered a severe blood hemorrhage in his heart.Griggs, Lillian. (1949). Memoirs of Lillian Baker Griggs. Duke University Archives, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. p. 43. He died in Lillian’s arms.
Library certification As Griggs had become accustomed to a life as the wife of a doctor, Alfred’s death left her in a precarious situation. She wrote in her memoir, “Just what we would do was most uncertain. It would be necessary for me to get employment of some kind. But what could I do? I was not prepared for anything special, we had no income or money, and the years ahead seemed very dismal.”Griggs, Lillian (1949). Memoirs of Lillian Baker Griggs. Duke University Archives, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. pp. 44.
Traveling back to Georgia with her nine-year-old son, Griggs was counseled by a family friend to consider applying for a librarian position. She initially dismissed it as pointless, given that she had no connections in the field.Griggs, Lillian (1949). Memoirs of Lillian Baker Griggs. Duke University Archives, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. p. 45. However, in the summer of 1910, she saw an ad for the “Library School of the Carnegie Library in Atlanta” in the morning newspaper and decided to apply.Young, Betty. (1983). Lillian Baker Griggs. In Wayne A. Wiegand (Eds.), Leaders in American Academic Librarianship: 1925-1975. Philadelphia: Beta Phi Mu. pp. 125-126. Griggs took the exam, and was admitted to the program at the Carnegie Library in Atlanta (later integrated with Emory University) for the following fall semester. While completing her year-long certification, Griggs lived in Atlanta with a friend while her late husband’s sister cared for her son. Griggs received her librarian certificate in the spring of 1911.Young, Betty. (1983). Lillian Baker Griggs. In Wayne A. Wiegand (Eds.), Leaders in American Academic Librarianship: 1925-1975. Philadelphia: Beta Phi Mu. p. 126.
Durham Public Library (1911-1923) Griggs became the first professionally trained librarian to work in North Carolina on July 1, 1911, taking a position as the director of the Durham County Public Library. Before she filled this role, the library had been staffed by volunteers. As the Library Board had no previous experience working with a professional librarian, they allowed Griggs complete freedom in updating and improving Durham’s dysfunctional library—a responsibility not often given to female librarians in this time period.
Within the first four years of working at the Durham Public Library, Griggs completely upended the library. She catalogued and classified the entire collection of material (3,500 books and periodicals) and established a children’s room with regular story time hours.Harland-Jacobs, Jessica (1998). "A New Era". The History of Public Library Service in Durham, 1897-1997. North Carolina: Durham County Public Library. Mena Webb, an NC author, recalls Grigg’s presence in the library in a 2007 interview with the Southern Oral History Program: “Because my mother was a good friend of the librarian, she knew that I would be safe over there... [...] Mrs. Griggs would keep me out of trouble. So I was a frequent visitor over there at the library. She was very helpful to me, Mrs. Griggs. She picked out books at first for me and then she gave me free rein.”Interview with Mena Fuller Webb by Cathy Abernathy, March 26, 2007 C-0337, in the Southern Oral History Program Collection #4007, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Griggs also organized the library’s budget, prepared statistical reports, and in 1914 convinced the municipal assembly to double the funds allocated for library use. She also assisted Dr. Aaron McDuffie Moore in setting up Durham’s African American public library, first housed in the basement of White Rock Baptist Church, but the extent of her participation is unclear. In 1918, Griggs and the library board won a $32,000 grant from the Carnegie Foundation that led to the construction of a new Durham Public Library in 1921. The library was housed there for the next five decades."History of the Durham County Library". Durham County Library. Retrieved October 21, 2025.
Library service for rural communities