Ben Alkaly writes: “Is it possible to know somebody without ever having met them? A decade ago, Claudia Horning attempted to answer this riddle while conducting research for her master’s thesis in information studies in what was then the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information. The person Horning was forging a relationship with was Miriam Matthews, who in 1927 became the first certified Black librarian in California and went to work for the Los Angeles Public Library.” Alkaly interviewed Horning about Matthews’ career and impact, as documented in her papers, photos, and interviews held at UCLA.