Library of Congress Pays Tribute to Dolly Parton, Honouring the Literacy Legacy Behind the Music
The Library of Congress paid tribute to Dolly Parton on Tuesday, August 25, shortly after news of her death at age 80 broke, describing her on X as "a music legend and titan of children's literacy" (Billboard).
The institution's social media posts and a Facebook message struck a deeply personal note. "The Library is devastated to learn of the passing of Dolly Parton," the Facebook post read, "not only a talented figure" but the driving force behind a book-gifting programme that has received multiple Library of Congress Literacy Awards (Library of Congress on Facebook).
That programme is the Imagination Library, launched by Parton in 1996 as an initiative of the Dollywood Foundation, the nonprofit she founded in 1988 (Library of Congress). It mails free books to children under five, and according to the Library of Congress, it has donated more than 300 million books to U.S. children in that age group (HuffPost).
The relationship between Parton and the Library of Congress spanned decades. On April 15, 2004, the institution honoured her with its Living Legend Award (Library of Congress). Fourteen years later, in 2018, she visited the Library's Washington, D.C. campus to donate the 100 millionth Imagination Library book to its permanent collection and host a story time for young visitors (Billboard).
The Imagination Library has also been recognised competitively. The programme received top prizes in the Library of Congress Literacy Awards, whose winners were announced in September 2021 (Library of Congress Blog).
The tribute posts landed within hours of the announcement of Parton's death, and the response from the Library of Congress framed her impact not through record sales or chart positions but through the children who received books in the mail because she decided they should.
