
this is a picture of benjamin franklin sculpture in a toga.
The Library Company of Philadelphia
Paul Allen, a Philanthropist once said, “When it comes to helping out, I don’t believe in doing it for the media. My goal is to support the organizations that need help.” This quote from Paul Allen resembles Benjamin Franklin. Benjamin Franklin believe in the study of Philanthropy, which meant a person is virtuous to humanity. At age 21, he created a group called the Junto. The Junto club was made up of 12 members, whose passion was devoted to helping the mankind. In 1731, Benjamin Franklin and the Junto members opened up the first library for all the people, rich or poor. The Library Company of Philadelphia created the first subscription library. This innovation opened up education opportunities to people who did not previously have access due to income, class, or gender.
The major change in history this innovation had was it was the first Library Company of Philadelphia. This library in particular was a subscription library (Abbot 3). Subscription libraries are libraries formed by groups who paid for memberships. To be a member of the Library Company, one must pay 40 shillings, and agree to pay 10 shillings yearly (Abbot 3). Unlike other libraries, this library allowed person to give their valuable possession for a book. So, it didn’t matter if the person was or not a member, as long as they had something to trade off. In the late 17th century to the 19th century, subscription library were public, private, or both. The Library Company of Philadelphia was subscription library that is both private and public (Britannica).
An example of a private library in the 16th century is the Harvard College library. It was formed in 1638, and was only used by students and teachers of the college. On the other hand, there were also two public libraries formed in New Mexico by missionaries in 1640. But, when the ferocious battle of Pueblo Indian Revolt occurred, the libraries were not seen. When the re-conquest in 1692 occurred, missionaries began forming libraries again (McMullen 15).
From 1731 until the late 19th century, the Library Company of Philadelphia played as, “the City library,” or, “the Philadelphia library,” (Wolf 39). It held books of many genres, but mostly were based on American History. This made the Library Company stand out. It caught attention of many famous people. Because of this, the Library Company became famous, and received donations and gifts. One gift arrived at the Library Company in 1857. George Mifflin Dallas donated this gift. George Mifflin Dallas was a U.S minister at the court of St. James. The gift was an oil painting of Southeast Philadelphia by Peter Cooper, who painted in roughly around 1720. It first was given to Dallas by Parliament. George Mifflin Dallas believed that this painting should belong to the city, and its people. This oil painting is exceedingly important. It gave people in this century and many more to come, the view of Southeast Philadelphia in the 17th century (Wolf 55).
The donations and gifts were a new start of something good. The famous architect during the 18th century was Frank Furness. Frank Furness drew the new location of the Library Company. On February 24, 1880, the new building on Juniper and Locust opened (Wolf 59-60).Up until the new building on Juniper and Locust street, the members of the Library Company were males, even though females were not rejected to go. In 1769, Sarah Emlen and Susanna Carmalt became the first female shareholders. On May 9, 1769, Sarah Wister also became a shareholder. Then, the daughter of William Bartram, Ann Bartram, became a shareholders. Also, in Hannah Calendar’s diary, she states that during the 1750’s to 1760’s, she would use her fathers membership to attend the library (Wolf 19). During the late 17th century and 18th century, women were not encouraged to learn as much as men were. Their jobs were to cook, clean, and wash. The male jobs were to work, and be more educated for the family (Volo 203-204).
Thankfully, the new building opened up its first women’s room. This room was made just for women. In 1880, the Library Company hired it’s first female librarian. Elizabeth McClellan served from 1880 to her death in 1920. Elizabeth McClellan was in charge of the women’s room. During this time period, the Library Company separated females and males, and kept record of usage by gender. However, because of new women’s room, more females used the library. At the end, females were almost treated as fairly as males, because of high numbers in attendance (Wolf 60).
The interest and involvement of the Library Company grew until 1895. In 1895, the Free Library of Philadelphia opened. This library was open to the public, and was completely free to everyone (Wolf 76). Because of this, the Library Company of Philadelphia began losing money and members. In addition, when the Great Depression occurred in 1929, it damaged a lot of people lives. Jobs were lost, and many people fought to keep their lives running. Anything they needed, for example food, came first (Depression). No person had money to buy subscriptions, or books at the Library Company.
In 1929, Austin K. Gray became one of the librarians of the Library Company. Austin K. Gray was a civilized Englishman, and historian. Austin K. Gray’s ideas to stop the library from going bankrupt were to hold exhibits and lectures. Gray maintained a fundraiser for the Library Company, but that did not help it from the Great Depression (Wolf 77- 79). Due to the World War II in 1939, the important books of the Library Company were given to the Free Library of Philadelphia for protection (Wolf 82). Then Gray retired and Edwin Wolf II became librarian in 1955 right after World War II. Wolf’s ideas were to bring exhibits to the library similar to the same ideas presented by Austin K. Gray (Wolf 83-95).
Eventually, because of the Great Depression and the loss of money and members, no members were attending the library, and the Library Company was going downhill. In the late 1930’s two studies were made. One study was made from Robert H. Downs. Robert H. Downs was a librarian of the New York University (Wolf 80). The second study was from Charles W. David. Charles W. David was a composer of Medieval ancient literary works (David). Together, Robert and Charles decided that the Library Company of Philadelphia should be a research library for students. This plan couldn’t work on it’s own. Thanks to the help of the librarian, Edwin Wolf II, it was possible. During the studies by Robert and Charles, they realized the genre of the unique collections of books were American History (Wolf 82). Wolf also discovered duplicates of important ancient American History books, and decided to see them. Even though 375,000 books were left, the money they earned went to the new building they decided to built on Locust Street.
On May 2, 1960 the library Directors held a meeting. The meeting discussed where about the new location of the Library Company. The two locations were either to be near University of Pennsylvania, or close to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Ten out of eleven voted for to place the new locations near the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. The last voter voted for the University of Pennsylvania. With the votes, the directors agreed to place the Library Company near the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (Wolf 87). The Historical Society of Pennsylvania was found in 1824. This history library is one of the massive library in the nation. Like that Library Company, it contained works of the 17th, 18th, and 19th century. It holds 600,000 books, pamphlets, serials, and microfilm reels. It also included 20 million manuscripts, along with 300,000 graphic items (History). Since the Library Company was next to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania they decided to come up with an agreement. The agreement was that the Historical Society of Pennsylvania would keep the new manuscripts, while the Library Company of Philadelphia kept the unique collections of American History (Wolf 89).
With the new building, the first exhibit was in 1966. It was called, “Bibliothesaur: Or, Jewels from the Shelves of the Library Company of Philadelphia.” This exhibit showcases colonial period books, manuscripts, and important documents. It also showcased books bought by Edwin Wolf II, during the World War II (Wolf 89-90).
In the course of three years, Edwin Wolf II had an another exhibit. It was named, “Negro History: 1553-1903.” Wolf’s purpose of this exhibit was to explain the historical occurring to the Negros in 1553 to 1903. This exhibit was too triumphant that they kept it organized for three years by the lending hand of the Ford Foundation Grant. With the help of the Ford Foundation Grant, the information were saved and kept. For example, the economy of slavery, antislavery/abolition literature, apologies of slavery, antebellum politics, slave narratives, and others were listed and save (Wolf 92-93). Similar to this exhibition was the, “Women 1500 to 1900.” It was glorious as the exhibition of, “Negro History: 1553-1903.” This exhibition informed people about the rights a female had, the hobbies, fashion, marriage/divorce, sports, education, and religion.
This Library Company changed the life in the 17th century. During the 17th century and on, the Library Company gave people educational contingencies. Regardless of the Great Depression and World War II, the income did not matter. In 1965, the Library Company became a research library free to the people. The persons class or gender was never excluded. In 1880, females were as highly treated as males. Thanks to the Library Company of Philadelphia, people learned that education could be given to anyone not because of their income, class, or gender.
S., Tim . "History Of Communication." http://library.thinkquest.org/5729/ppress.htm. ThinkQuest, Web. 19 Nov 2009.
This helped me answer the question, "when did Benjamin Franklin started the printing press?" The answer to this is, he began being an apprentice at age 12. When he was 17, he was a fully fledge printer. This source is a secondary source.
Hartle, Sandra , and Monty Rainey . "About Ben Franklin's Junto Society." Junto Society . 22/08/2--2. Web. 19 Nov 2009.
This helped me answer the question, "what is the Junto Society?" The Junto Society is group of 12 men started by Benjamin Franklin. These men believed in philanthropy. This source is a secondary source.
McMullen, Haynes. American libraries before 1876. Westport, Conn: Greenwood, 2000.
National History Day: Library Company of Philadelphia Jasmine Montebon
Nov. 2 09
Introduction
Problem: Books were not available to people other than the rich, or wealthy farmer
Thesis:Benjamin Franklin opened up the first library for, "We the people." In 1781, the Library Company of Philadelphia created the first lending library to have a system of lending books to the people. This innovation opened up educational opportunities to people who didn't have access due to class, or poverty.
I. Introduction
A. Types of libraries
i. Personal Libraries
a. Personal Libraries - Spanish, French, English, and Dutch owned many personal copies of books from Europe. Books were very expensive and only owned by rich landowners, merchants, or just wealthy people. People like doctors, ministers, or Lawyers owned volumes of books that held information. Colonial Americans owned books for farming, or guiding books.
ii. College Libraries
a. Were only meant for college students, or the faculties. They contained books about law, medicine, theology, history, philosophy, and mathematics. They were mostly donations from a person of wealth and influence who supports and artist, writer, or scholar (patron)
iii. Church and Community Libraries
a. Thomas Bray, a minister from
iv. Society Libraries
Van Horne, John C. "The History and Collections of the Library Company." Gale. Web. 22 Oct. 2009. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1026/is_2_170/ai_n16690241/.
This article is a secondary source, it was written by John C. Van Horne. John C. Van Horne is the Director of the Library Company, who worked over 20 years there. This article helped me explain, "what immediate effect on the country did it have?" The article explained that during the 1800 - 1865, the library expanded. Books were being donated, and the library company grew. It became the, "City Library," or "Philadelphia Library." This type of article would be read by high school students, or college grad students.
Wolf. At the Instance of Benjamin Franklin A Brief History of the Library Company. Boston: Library Company of Philadelphia, 1995.
This source is a secondary source. It helped me see how the library company expanded into a bigger, and better library company. It gave me information that described every detail there could be. This book woould be great for high school, and college grad students who are looking for text books with a lot of deatails. It also gave me information on the people who agreed on this innovation, like Louis Timothee.

ot whether you avoid this failure, because you won't. it's whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevere it"