08/26/2026
Thank you, Dolly.
For those who don’t know, Dolly Parton spent much of the fortune she built helping give away more than 200 million books.
She grew up in a one-room cabin in Tennessee, the fourth of twelve kids, in a house with no electricity and no running water. Her family was so poor that when she was born, they had nothing to pay the doctor with except a sack of cornmeal. Her father was a sharecropper who never learned to read.
That’s a big reason why she started the Imagination Library in 1995, which mails a free book every month to any child under five who signs up. She never made a show of asking who deserved it. She just did it.
Dolly, you were the definition of class.
The Library is devastated to learn of the passing of Dolly Parton, not only a talented musician, but also a true titan of children's literacy. Her Imagination Library has received multiple Library of Congress Literacy Awards and, in 2018, Dolly visited us to donate the program’s 100 millionth book to our collection. She even hosted story time. 🦋❤️
Watch the video of her story time reading at the Library. ⬇️ https://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2020/12/dolly-parton-the-library-that-dolly-built/
Image: Dolly Parton reads to children in the Library’s Great Hall in 2018. Photo by Shawn Miller/Library of Congress.
