The Dollywood Foundation launches Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, initially providing free books to children in Sevier County, Tennessee.
On September 21, 1995, the Dollywood Foundation launched Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, a program that began by mailing free books each month to preschool-age children in Sevier County, Tennessee, Parton's home region.
The initiative was deeply personal for Parton, inspired by her father's illiteracy and her own family's limited access to books during her impoverished childhood. The program's simple but powerful model — mailing a high-quality, age-appropriate book to a child's home every month from birth until age five — was designed to foster early literacy and a love of reading regardless of a family's economic circumstances.
What began as a local Sevier County program grew dramatically over the following decades into an international literacy phenomenon, eventually partnering with local governments, nonprofits, and international affiliates across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Ireland. By the 2020s, the program had mailed well over 200 million free books to children worldwide.
The Imagination Library is widely regarded as one of the most successful celebrity-driven philanthropic literacy initiatives in history, and it has been credited by researchers and educators with measurably improving early literacy outcomes in participating communities. It stands as one of Parton's most significant and lasting legacies, arguably rivaling her musical career in long-term social impact.