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The First Libraries
The first libraries were membership, or subscription, libraries where members paid fees to use the collections and that money would go to the upkeep and continued purchase of items. Benjamin Franklin brought the idea of membership libraries to the colonies from Europe. With help from the Junto club, a group of primarily merchants who would gather to discuss morals, politics, or natural philosophy, Franklin started the first membership library in the US, The Library Company, in Philadelphia. -
First Lending Library
Benjamin Franklin was also crucial in the countries first Lending Library. In 1790, Franklin donated a collection of books to Franklin, Massachusetts, a town that was named after him. The town had asked him to donate a bell, but Franklin opted for books stating that "sense was more important than sound". After the donation, the residents of Franklin voted to make those donated books free to the public, creating the first public library in the US. -
First Totally Tax-Supported Library
The first free to the public library was opened in Peterborough, New Hampshire in 1833. It was able to be totally free to the public because it was board-governed and funded by taxes. -
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was born on November 25, 1835 in Dunfermline, Scotland. He went on to become one of the wealthiest men in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as a steel magnate. He used his wealth to help those around him, he is best known for funding many public and academic libraries in his lifetime. He also made sure to build libraries in areas where African American patrons could have access to them. -
Boston Public Library
While the Boston Public Library was established in 1848, it's first physical building was not opened until March 1854. It then moved locations twice to accommodate it's ever expanding collection, once in 1858 and then in 1895, which is where it has been located ever since. The Boston Public Library is known as the first large free municipal library in the US. In 1854, the BPL's collection held 16,000 volumes, and, in 1858 held 70,000 volumes. -
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Carnegie Libraries
Andrew Carnegie funded 2,509 libraries between 1883 and 1929, all over the world. Of those libraries, 1,795 were in the US, over half of the libraries in the US at that time - 1,687 of them were public and 108 were academic libraries. The remaining libraries that Carnegie funded were located all over the world - Europe, South Africa, Barbados, Australia, and New Zealand. -
Tessa Kelso
Tessa Kelso was a modern woman in a world that was not ready to modernize. In 1889, she was appointed as the head librarian of the Los Angeles Public Library and made many important changes to it. She incorporated the Dewey Decimal System, abandoned membership fees, and began a formal training program for library employees. But Kelso, personally, was too modern. After 6 years of public criticism, and having to sue on the grounds of slander twice, she left the library and never went back. -
Bringing the Library to the Patrons
Bookmobiles were started in the early 1900s to connect to patrons who otherwise would not have access to the library. Early bookmobiles were especially crucial for segregated areas in the south and to schools on Native American reservations. The use of bookmobiles dwindled around the time of the Great Depression and World War II. The first bookmobiles were horse-drawn carriages prior to the invention of the automobile. -
An Era of Innovation
By 1920, more than 3,500 public libraries had been opened across the United States. -
The Library Services Act
The Library Services Act, with it's emphasis on rural library development, was able to revive the bookmobile programs. The act itself helped to add over 5 million books and materials to rural libraries and put 200 new bookmobiles on the road. This effort helped increase book circulation over 40%.