UNITED STATES.
Origins.— Library history in America be gins with the first permanent settlement in the New World by the English. At Jamestown it was proposed to establish a college, and the minutes of the Virginia Company record a gift of books to the institution. The Indian massacre of 1622, however, dissipated these plans. New England was more fortunate. Harvard College was founded in 1636, and two years later, tinder the terms of the will of Rev. John Harvard, the school became pos sessed of 300 books. An interesting chapter in early American library history was the effort of the Rev. Thomas Bray of England to establish parochial libraries in Great Britain and the colonies. In 1699, he arrived at Baltimore and established soon after a number of such col lections. These libraries, with the exception of a few volumes, have disappeared, but some of the English collections are still extant. Among other libraries founded during 17th century, William and Mary College (1692) and the Yale College (1700) are still in existence, Yale Li brary numbering now about 1,025,000 volumes.
Subscription and Shareholding Libraries of the 18th Century.—The 18th century marked the origin and development of the library as an independent institution. This was due to the founding of subscription or shareholding libraries. The influence of these was, of course, restricted to the members, but even so they con stituted an important advance toward the mod ern free library. The founding of the earliest of these, the Library Company of Philadelphia (1732), was one of the multifarious activities of Benjamin Franklin. It was an outgrowth of a literary society, first called the °Junto?' which became eventually the American Philo sophical Society. In 1769 the Union Library Company, and, in 1771, the Association and Amicable Library Companies were merged with the Philadelphia Library. A still more import ant accession was the Loganian Library (1792), which had developed from the private collec tions of James Logan, formerly a private sec retary of William Penn. Other libraries of this type organized during the 18th century were the Redwood Library, Newport (1747), the first institution in America to erect a build ing solely for library purposes, which is still standing; the Charlestown, S. C., Library (1748) ; the New York Society Library (1754) ; the Providence Library (1758), and the Balti more Library Association (1795).
Athenaeums, Mercantile and Apprentice Libraries.— A further advance toward the popularization of the library idea was the organization and development of athenaeums, mercantile and apprentice libraries. A few of first group, of which the Boston Athenaeum (1807) is the best example, were closely allied with the subscription libraries, yet the majority of the athenaeums such as the Salem (1810), the Rochester, N. Y. (1829), the Providence
Athenaeum (1753), the Lancaster Athenaeum (1860) and others partook more of the nature of mercantile libraries. Mercantile libraries were organized in Boston (1820), New York (1820), Philadelphia (1821), Albany (1833), Cincinnati (1835), Baltimore (1839), San Fran cisco (1853). There were, approximately, 67 li braries of the mercantile-mechanics type estab lished before 1870. Still more popular in na ture were the apprentice libraries, organized for the welfare of young men. A few of these were founded prior to the 19th century; one at Charleston, S. C., another at Lexington, Ky., and one at Newport, R. I.
It is not strange, therefore, that in some cities these libraries for many years performed the functions of the public library. Their fees were low, and social considerations played little part in the selection of their clientele, hence the growth and great educational influ ence of such libraries as the Boston, the New York, the Philadelphia and the San Francisco mercantile libraries.
Growth of the Idea of the Free Public Library.— This popularization of the share holding library, however, did not go far enough. It did not respond fully to American educa tional demands, and as a result the idea of a free public library began to assume form. Already the public school had been established and had its worth, and the time was ripe for its corollary, the free public library. Many years before, far-seeing men like Frank lin and Jefferson perceived the value and need of such institutions, yet it was not until the middle of the 19th century that the movement gained strength. No account of the develop ment of public libraries in America can omit reference to Prof. Charles C. Jewett, libra rian of the Smithsonian Institution and later of the Boston Public Library. He can justly be termed the father of the modern library movement in America, for it was his broad vision of the importance of the library in the community, of the need for library co-operation, and his enthusiasm that bore fruit first in a conference of American librarians in 1853, which ultimately resulted in the organization of the American Library Association, and the founding of The Library Journal in 1876. The work he had initiated was at this time carried to success by Winsor, Poole, Dewey, Cutter, Spofford, Billings, Greene, Leypoldt, Bowker, Putnam and other pioneers in American library work.