The Lost Library

In the United States, book-lending libraries are as old as the nation itself. Benjamin Franklin founded the first one in the 1700s; it took the form of a subscription club through which book owners exchanged books with other members. At this time, literacy was increasing, as was availability of books beyond the Bible. However, books were expensive and thus only the wealthy had access to them. In 1731, Franklin expanded the membership library, allowing non-members to access the books in its collection by providing a piece of collateral. Though books had to be mail ordered from England, other membership libraries sprang up throughout the colonies.

In 1790, Franklin donated several of his personal books to a town in Massachusetts named after him. Franklin stipulated that the books be available to the town’s residents, and thus the first public library was born. Following this, government-supported libraries funded via public taxes began to appear. The first was in Petersborough, New Hampshire, in 1833. When the Boston Public Library opened in 1854, it became the largest in the nation, with a collection of 16,000 (“A History of US Public Libraries.” Digital Public Library of America).

In 1876, the American Library Association was established.