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45-798: The library is the third oldest subscription library in the United States after the Library Company of Philadelphia (founded 1731 by Benjamin Franklin ) and the Redwood Library and Athenaeum of Newport, Rhode Island (1747). The Charleston Library was founded before The Providence Athenaeum (1753), the New York Society Library (1754), and the Boston Athenaeum (1807). Anne Cleveland served as

90-815: A Master's degree in the Conservation of Books and Library Materials from West Dean College in the UK, and he is an active member of the American Institute for Conservation and the Guild of Bookworkers. The space also serves as the Jerrold and Ann Mitchell Conservation Lab, a working reminder of the dedication that the Charleston Library Society maintains towards the proper care and repair of their historical treasures. From here, staff utilize

135-479: A Scottish-born physician and planter of Antigua . The earliest surviving printed catalogue of 1741 gives the range of readers' tastes, for the members' requirements shaped the collection. Excluding gifts, a third of the holdings of 375 titles were historical works, geographies and accounts of voyages and travels, a category the Library Company has collected energetically throughout its history. A fifth of

180-650: A charter under the name the Charles Town Library Society. Governor Glen signed the bill, and the Crown ratified it in 1755. It was founded as a white-only society. In 1759, the Society began investigating the possibility of creating an educational institution in connection with its mission. Starting in 1759, the Society laid aside money each year to establish such an institution. The Society accumulated about 20,000 pounds sterling by 1778. Meanwhile,

225-594: A glazed cabinet, the earliest extant example of American-made Palladian architectural furniture. Rooms on the second floor of the newly finished west wing of the State House (now Independence Hall ) housed the Library and its collections: there Franklin and his associates performed their first experiments in electricity during the 1740s. Later Benjamin West sent the mummified hand of an Egyptian princess. A charter

270-436: A point of fact that might be found in a decent library. In colonial Pennsylvania at the time there were not many books; Books from London booksellers were expensive to purchase and slow to arrive. Franklin and his friends were mostly of moderate means, and none alone could have afforded a representative library such as a gentleman of leisure might expect to assemble. By pooling their resources in pragmatic Franklinian fashion, as

315-452: A set of Spenser's Works to the collection and Francis Richardson gave several volumes, among them Francis Bacon's Sylva Sylvarum , but on the whole books in Latin were few. Overtures to the proprietor of Pennsylvania, John Penn at Pennsbury at first elicited no more than a polite response, but an unsolicited gift of 34 pounds sterling arrived in the summer of 1738 from Walter Sydserfe,

360-714: A tenth of the titles, which set the Free Library apart from collegiate libraries at Harvard and Yale . Another tenth was works of philosophy, and the rest (approximately 1/15 of the collection) was "economics and such social sciences , the arts , linguistics , and the indefinables." The Company's agent in London was Peter Collinson , Fellow of the Royal Society , the Quaker mercer-naturalist of London, who corresponded with John Bartram . The Library Company's example

405-522: A year thereafter to buy books and maintain a shareholder's library. Therefore, "the Mother of all American subscription libraries " was established, and a list of desired books compiled in part by James Logan , "the best Judge of Books in these parts," was sent to London by autumn the first books were on the shelves. Earlier libraries in the Thirteen Colonies belonged to gentlemen, members of

450-646: Is a non-profit organization based on Locust Street in Center City Philadelphia . Founded as a library in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin , the Library Company of Philadelphia has accumulated one of the most significant collections of historically valuable manuscripts and printed material in the United States. The current collection size is approximately 500,000 books and 70,000 other items, including 2,150 items that once belonged to Franklin, major collections of 17th-century and Revolution -era pamphlets and ephemera , maps, and whole libraries assembled in

495-415: Is also evidence that many of the library's curiosities were available to borrow if permission was obtained from any two directors. In 1769, Owen Biddle used the telescope to observe the transit of Venus from Cape Henlopen . On May 9 of that year Sarah Wistar became the first woman to be voted a library share. The library absorbed smaller lending libraries and outgrew its rooms, renting larger space on

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540-735: The Free Library of Philadelphia , was chartered in 1891 to "be free to all", and opened in March 1894. The Library Company suffered financial troubles during the Great Depression and was forced to sell the Locust Street building and consolidate the collections in the Ridgway Library on South Broad Street . As its fortunes improved after the war, the institution focused on its mission as a scholarly research library. In

585-459: The Library of Congress until the national capital was established in 1800. Virtually every significant work on political theory, history, law, and statecraft (and much else besides) could be found on the Library Company's shelves, as well as numerous tracts and polemical writings by American as well as European authors. And virtually all of those works that were influential in framing the minds of

630-613: The 18th and 19th centuries. The collection also includes first editions of Moby-Dick and Leaves of Grass . The Library Company was an offshoot of the Junto , a discussion group in colonial Philadelphia , that gravitated around Benjamin Franklin . On July 1, 1731, Franklin and a number of his fellow members among the Junto drew up articles of agreement to found a library, for they had discovered that their far-ranging conversations on intellectual and political themes floundered at times on

675-711: The Executive Director of the Charleston Library Society from 2009 to 2023. Laura Pelzer has been the Executive Director since January of 2023. On June 13, 1748 a group of seventeen men from Charleston organized to begin purchasing current periodicals from England. The founders were Alexander Baron; Samuel Brailsford; Robert Brisbane; William Burrows; John Cooper; Paul Douxsaint; James Grindlay; William Logan; Alexander McCauley; Patrick McKie; Thomas Middleton; John Neufville Jr.; Thomas Sacheverel; John Sinclair; Paul Stevenson; Peter Timothy; Joseph Wragg Jr.; and Samuel Wragg Jr. The men each contributed ten pounds sterling to

720-569: The Framers of the nation are still on the Library Company's shelves. In 1785, the Company purchased a collection of Revolutionary broadsheets pamphlets and other ephemera that had been assiduously collected by Pierre Eugène Du Simitière , of which no other copies have survived. Permanent quarters were established for the Library Company in 1789 with the purchase of a lot on Fifth Street near Chestnut across from State House Square. A competition for

765-459: The Library Company's historian wrote, "the contribution of each created the book capital of all. "Many of the first books in the collection focused Hat the first texts of on religion and education. It is notable t the collection was written in English, when during the period most books held in academic and private libraries were only found in Latin. The first librarian they hired, America's first,

810-479: The Library's priceless collection. He directed courses and workshops on the art of the book and traditional binding methods. Today, conservation and bookbinding efforts are led by Director of Conservation, James Davis. James studied Art History at the College of Charleston, where his passion and interest in art and historical objects grew into a career dedicated to their repair and maintenance. His background includes

855-754: The Ripley-Ravenel Building. Only the facade of the Carolina Rifles Armory had survived Hurricane Hugo , so the Library Society retained that but built a fireproof storage building behind it for its rarest and most valuable collections. The Dorothy the Bookbinder's Bindery and Archival Lab was christened in December of 2011. From the summer of '12 to '16, past Director Brien Beidler oversaw repair and conservation of

900-535: The Society moved to its current location at 164 King St. The building was designed in the Beaux Arts style by Philadelphia architects McGoodwin and Hawley. In 1963 the Library Society bought the adjacent Barnwell Annex at 162 King Street. Then, in 1992, the Library Society purchased the Carolina Rifles Armory (c. 1888) at 158-160 King St., restored the building over several years, and renamed it

945-616: The bulk of the collection was removed to the South Carolina College (today the University of South Carolina) for safekeeping. The small portion of the collection kept in Charleston was destroyed. By 1910, the Society recognized that its present location was inadequate. The building was too small to house the growing collection. In addition, the building was not fireproof and was located very close to its neighbors to

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990-612: The clergy, and colleges. Members of the Library Company soon opened their own book presses to make donations: A Collection of Several Pieces , by John Locke ; Logic: or, the Art of Thinking , by the Port Royalists Antoine Arnauld and Pierre Nicole , which Franklin in his autobiography said he had read at the age of 16; Plutarch 's Moralia translated by Philemon Holland ; Lewis Roberts' Merchants Mappe of Commerce , and others. A bit later William Rawle added

1035-602: The collection was transferred to the upper floor of the Statehouse (today, the Charleston County Courthouse). From 1835 until 1914, the Charleston Library Society occupied a building at the corner of Church and Broad Streets (50 Broad St.) that was purchased with the aid of "brick" memberships, several of which are still in use generations later by Charleston families. During the Civil War, however,

1080-609: The cost of the book. Apparently, their money was given back upon returning the book. The privilege of being a member meant that books could be borrowed for free. Franklin also mentioned that the library was only open on Saturdays, for four hours in the afternoon. On November 10, 1731, at Nicholas Scull's Bear Tavern ten persons paid their forty shillings: Robert Grace (share no. 1), Thomas Hopkinson (share no. 2),2 Benjamin Franklin (share no. 3), John Jones, Jr. (4), Joseph Breintnall (5), Anthony Nicholas (6), Thomas Godfrey (7), Joseph Stretch (8), Philip Syng, Jr. (9), and John Sober (10). It

1125-743: The delegates. The offer was renewed when the Second Continental Congress met the following spring, and again when the delegates to the Constitutional Convention met in 1787. Nine signers of the Declaration of Independence— Benjamin Franklin , Benjamin Rush , Francis Hopkinson , Robert Morris , George Clymer , John Morton , James Wilson , Thomas McKean , and George Ross —owned shares, some of them serving as directors. The Library Company served virtually as

1170-559: The design of a building was won by an amateur of architecture, Dr. William Thornton , with a plan for a Palladian red-brick structure with white pilasters and a pediment interrupting a balustraded roof. A curving double flight of steps led up to the arched door under an arched niche containing a gift from William Bingham —a marble statue of Franklin in a classical toga sculpted in Italy by Francesco Lazzarini. Member's shares were extended to carpenters and bricklayers in partial payment for work on

1215-625: The early books needed to be purchased from England because the American printing industry was only in its infancy in the 18th century. The Library Society played a crucial role in the founding of the College of Charleston in 1770 and the Charleston Museum in 1773. The Charleston Library Society's collection has been held in many locations. Originally, elected librarians safeguarded the Library's materials in their homes until 1792, when

1260-494: The election of Gov. Wade Hampton, the organizations became legal, and the group reconstituted itself as the Carolina Rifles. They purchased 158-160 King St. as their armory in 1888. Construction was under way in 1889, and the Carolina Rifles were in their new headquarters by 1890. The building had commercial space on the ground floor, and the Carolina Rifles used the second floor. By 1989, when Hurricane Hugo came ashore,

1305-663: The enterprise. The mission expanded quickly, and by December 1748, the group had decided to acquire books as well. The group attempted to secure a charter for their organization, and twice such a measure was adopted by the Colonial Assembly. Both times, however, the Governor refused to sign the bill. Aid from the Royal government in London was refused, and the Society stopped its activities temporarily. Eventually, though, in 1754, after having added other members, they acquired

1350-413: The first fifty must be approved by the directors, sign the articles, and pay the subscription. Admitting new members and selecting new books were the directors' ordinary duties. In the back of the library's 1741 catalog, Franklin mentioned that the library was accessible to people who were not members. Those who were not members were allowed to borrow books. However, they had to leave enough money to cover

1395-487: The lot at 59 Meeting St., the site of the Branford-Horry House. The Society would then divide the lot and sell the portion with the house and build a new facility on the remainder. Another site on King St., however, was the popular choice of the membership, and $ 14,020 was raised for the use of that location. The King St. location was chosen at a special meeting of the Society held on May 13, 1910. In 1914,

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1440-509: The mid-19th century. A large bequest from Dr. James Rush resulted in a new building at Broad and Christian streets in South Philadelphia. The Ridgway Library, as it was called, was controversial because it was both physically and socially removed from the homes and businesses of its members. A new, more centrally located, library designed by Frank Furness opened its doors in 1880 at Juniper and Locust Street. An unrelated endeavor,

1485-466: The most up-to-date techniques to stabilize the rarest volumes from the collection so they can be enjoyed by members, researchers, and visitors alike. 32°46′42″N 79°55′58″W  /  32.77833°N 79.93278°W  / 32.77833; -79.93278 Library Company of Philadelphia 39°56′52″N 75°09′47″W  /  39.94779°N 75.16306°W  / 39.94779; -75.16306 The Library Company of Philadelphia (LCP)

1530-592: The new building. The new quarters were opened on New Year's Day, 1791. For the new library Samuel Jennings, an expatriate Philadelphian living in London, painted a large picture, " Liberty Displaying the Arts and Sciences ." In 1792, the Loganian Library, which had been housed across the square, was transferred to the Library Company, complementing its collection with the 2600 books (chiefly in Latin and Greek) that had been collected by James Logan. This collection

1575-628: The second floor of the new Carpenters' Company hall in 1773. "The Books (inclosed within Wire Lattices) are kept in one large Room," Franklin was informed in London, "and in another handsome Apartment the [scientific] Apparatus is deposited and the Directors meet." On September 5, 1774, the First Continental Congress met on the first floor of Carpenters' Hall , and the Library Company extended members' privileges to all

1620-624: The second half of the 20th century, under the direction of Edwin Wolf II , an energetic program of renewal brought the Library Company once more into a busy and vital center of national importance for research and education. The Library Company completed a new building on Locust Street, also named the Ridgway Library, in 1965, and opened it to the public in April 1966. Notes Further reading Carolina Rifles Armory The Carolina Rifles Armory at 158-160 King St., Charleston, South Carolina ,

1665-509: The size of the library's holding expanded quickly, but a fire destroyed all but about 185 volumes of the 5,000 or 6,000 in the collection on January 15, 1778; the library recovered, though, and held 20,000 volumes by 1860. In 1874, the Apprentices' Library Society was merged with the Charleston Library Society. Members voluntarily paid (and still pay) a small subscription to the library to purchase books which all members may share. Most of

1710-410: The titles were literature, mostly in the form of poetry and plays, for the prose novel was still in its infancy: as late as 1783, in the first orders from London after the war years, the directors thought "we should not think it expedient to add to our present stock, anything in the novel way." Another fifth of the titles were devoted to works of science. Theology and sermons , however, accounted for only

1755-509: The west and north. The Society received a gift from James Murdoch of seed money to begin a fund for the construction of a new building, and the search for a new location began. Several locations were considered including a place on Washington Square (but it was decided the City would not offer a portion of the park) and a place on Meeting St. between Broad and Market Streets (but the lots were too expensive). The leading option appeared to be purchasing

1800-416: Was Louis Timothee. He only held the position for a brief time. Until another librarian was found to replace him, Benjamin Franklin took over his duties. Franklin's stint as librarian ended in 1734, when he was replaced by William Parsons, the librarian for the next 12 years. Robert Greenway was the fourth librarian, whose tenure lasted until 1763. The articles of association specified that each member after

1845-448: Was a disappointing turnout: all but John Sober and the hatter Joseph Stretch (son of Peter Stretch ), who later became a Pennsylvania assemblyman, were officers. The library now had eleven paid-up members. Joseph Stretch and his brothers provided half of the original capital to build Pennsylvania Hospital , another of Benjamin Franklin's projects. Over time, fifty subscribers invested 40 shillings each and promised to pay ten shillings

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1890-504: Was a late 19th-century headquarters for a semi-private military group, but today only the façade remains, facing an annex for the Charleston Library Society . The Carolina Rifles were a semi-private military group organized in 1869 during Reconstruction when armed military units were banned. The group ostensibly served social functions but was also expected by Confederate veterans to serve extra-police purposes. After

1935-752: Was issued for the Company by the Penn proprietors, March 24, 1742, that included a plot of land, issued in their name by Governor George Thomas . Collinson, who had faithfully executed the Company's requests for books over the years, sent windfalls in 1755 and in 1758 in the form of boxes of his own copies of a score of 17th-century accounts of the newly established British colonies in America, among them such classics as Strachey 's Lawes , Mourt's Relation and John Smith 's General Historie of Virginia . The Library Company's microscope and telescope were frequently borrowed and from time to time, needed repairs. There

1980-477: Was soon imitated in other cities along the Atlantic coast , from Salem to Charleston . The Library soon became a repository of other curiosities: antique coins, including a gift of Roman coins from a Tory Member of Parliament , fossils , natural history specimens, minerals. When John Penn, making up for his slow start, sent an air-pump to the learned society in 1739, the directors, to house it commissioned

2025-740: Was supplemented by the medical library of James Logan's younger brother, a physician in Bristol, England, the best medical library in North America. Thornton's new building immediately required a new wing. The collections went from strength to strength in the 19th century. In mid-century it was considered one of the "five great libraries" in the United States, along with the Harvard University Library , Yale University Library , Library of Congress , and Boston Athenæum . The Library Company's collections were physically split in

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