What Was The First Public Library In America?
There are a few buildings claiming the title of the first library in America. However, one that opened on May 22nd 1803 may be the first public one.
Officially, May 22nd marks the anniversary of the opening of the first public library in the United States. However, it turns out that this subject is open to debate. While many say that a library in Connecticut was the first public library in the United States, others argue that other institutions hold that honor. It all comes down to what we mean by public.
One building that claims the title, and seems to be the most worthy, is the Scoville Library in Salisbury, Connecticut. This library opened on this day in 1803 and is known as the first publically funded library for public use. It was certainly the first to be free for the public to use. The building housed a large collection of books brought over from London. Members could come and use the service on the third Monday of every 3rd month. It's not quite as convenient as today's libraries, with their regular opening times and chutes for depositing books, but it was a start. There were fines for any damages. The building remains an important part of the community today.
The next contender for the title of the first public library in the United States is the Library Company of Philadelphia. You have to go all the way back to 1731 for this one and the work of Benjamin Franklin. Before his work as a Founding Father and member of the US Government, Franklin was a prolific inventor. He founded this library in Philidelphia as a member-only subscription library.
This concept sounds a lot like modern-day libraries, where we sign up for our library cards and use that pass to get a set number of books. However, this library was the free-to-all institution of a town library. It began as a way for Franklin and his friends to create a resource they could all afford to share. This subscription service costs 40 shillings upfront and 10 more per year to buy and maintain the shareholder library. Centuries later, in 1965, the library moved to a new location as part of a revival and opened for public use the following year.
An honorable mention has to go to the Redwood Library and Athenaeum in Rhode Island. This one claims to be America's first purpose-built library - although it isn't as old as Franklin's - as well as the oldest to continuously operate from one location. The library began lending in 1747.
This is one of those situations where the winner gets chosen on a technicality rather than a knockout blow. There is a case for each library, and they are all in the record books for very different reasons. The Scoville Library may not be the oldest ever created in the United States, but it is still significant. It might be the first to make book lending free and accessible to the public. For that, it is as much of a pioneer as Franklin's members-only club in Philidelphia.