Nora Navra, 1870-1946

Nora Navra is a little known woman whose name, nevertheless, is a permanent fixture of the city of New Orleans. Because of her will, the New Orleans Public Library was able to open, in 1954, a purpose-built library for African Americans, the second branch for African Americans in the segregated city. Known to library administrators as an unmarried, avid reader with a Jewish background, Navra left money to numerous organizations. The will here shows something of the breadth of her interests and her generosity. In 1955, New Orleans Public Library branches and central library were opened to all citizens, but the Nora Navra branch retains a special place in the city’s steps towards recognition that African Americans made up a large percentage of the population.

Fanny Levy Mayer (1876-1940) was another Jewish woman important to the city’s library system. Her donation established new branches in Broadmoor and Gentilly in the early 1940s. The Gentilly branch, near Dillard University, she asked to be named for her husband, Norman Mayer.