🏢 Denver Public Library — Denver, Colorado

Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library

Standing in the heart of the historic Five Points neighborhood, this 40,000-square-foot branch is one of only a handful of research libraries in the nation dedicated to African American history in the West, combining a circulating library, an archive, and a third-floor museum.

📖 About Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library

The Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library opened on April 26, 2003, in Denver's Five Points neighborhood, long known as the center of the city's Black community. It was conceived by Denver's first African American mayor, Wellington Webb, and his wife, Wilma Webb, who saw that the history of African Americans in Denver and the American West was under-represented. The 40,000-square-foot library is named for Omar Blair, a Tuskegee Airman who became Denver's first Black school board president, and Elvin Caldwell, the first African American elected to Denver's city council. Alongside a full neighborhood branch, it holds tens of thousands of items and provides access to dozens of archival collections focused on the Western states. Its second floor houses the Wilma J. Webb Archives and Reading Room, while a third-floor museum presents exhibits and artifacts drawn from centuries of Western and African American history. It remains one of only a few research libraries of its kind in the United States.

⭐ What makes this branch special

• One of only a handful of U.S. research libraries devoted to African American history in the West
• Third-floor museum with rotating exhibits and historical artifacts
• Second-floor Wilma J. Webb Archives and Reading Room with 90+ archival collections
• Located in historic Five Points, long the hub of Denver's Black community

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