A public library is a library , most often a lending library , that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals , who are also civil servants .
178-476: The Astor Library was a free public library in the East Village, Manhattan , developed primarily through the collaboration of New York City merchant John Jacob Astor and New England educator and bibliographer Joseph Cogswell and designed by Alexander Saeltzer . It was primarily meant as a research library, and its books did not circulate. It opened to the public in 1854, and in 1895 consolidated with
356-474: A cemetery plot at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery . The Stuyvesants' estate later expanded to include two Georgian -style manors: the "Bowery House" to the south and "Petersfield" to the north. Many of these farms had become wealthy country estates by the middle of the 18th century. The Stuyvesant, DeLancey, and Rutgers families would come to own most of the land on the Lower East Side, including
534-466: A clientele of some fifty thousand." The mid-to-late 18th century saw a virtual epidemic of feminine reading as novels became more and more popular. Novels, while frowned upon in society, were extremely popular. In England, there were many who lamented at the "villainous profane and obscene books", and the opposition to the circulating library, on moral grounds, persisted well into the 19th century. Still, many establishments must have circulated many times
712-598: A college dorm. over requests of community groups and elected officials. Furthermore, the LPC acts on no particular schedule, leaving open indefinitely some "calendared" requests for designation. Sometimes it simply declines requests for consideration, as it did regarding an intact Italianate tenement at 143 East 13th Street. In other cases the LPC has refused the expansion of existing historic districts, as in 2016 when it declined to add 264 East 7th Street (the former home of illustrator Felicia Bond ) and four neighboring rowhouses to
890-605: A common pattern. Membership was restricted to the proprietors or shareholders, and ranged from a dozen or two to between four and five hundred. The entrance fee, i.e. the purchase price of a share, was in early days usually a guinea, but rose sharply as the century advanced, often reaching four or five guineas during the French wars; the annual subscription, during the same period, rose from about six shillings to ten shillings or more. The book-stock was, by modern standards, small (Liverpool, with over 8,000 volumes in 1801, seems to have been
1068-428: A completely new way of reading. Reading was no longer simply an academic pursuit or an attempt to gain spiritual guidance . Reading became a social activity. Many circulating libraries were attached to the shops of milliners or drapers. They served as much for social gossip and the meeting of friends as coffee shops do today. Another factor in the growth of subscription libraries was the increasing cost of books. In
1246-604: A dictionary arrangement of authors and subjects, but written on thinner cards. The public catalog was severely criticized in the public press for various idiosyncrasies, example articles being "A Library's Buried Treasures" in The New York Times of June 8, 1881, and in September 1881 a critical letter submitted to the Boston Transcript over the signature of "Delta." The second article was reprinted in
1424-403: A downtown office at his disposal. Cogswell was concerned about the progress of the plans for the library, and in 1842, threatened to take an offer to be secretary of legation under Washington Irving, now appointed American minister to Spain . Astor then agreed that more formal work could begin on the library: as soon as the building was finished, Cogswell was to be librarian with a salary of $ 2,500
1602-418: A drug-infested no man's land to the epicenter of downtown cool". This part of the neighborhood has long been an ethnic enclave for Manhattan's German , Polish , Hispanic , and Jewish populations. Crime went up in the area in the late 20th century but then declined in the 21st, as the area became gentrified . Alphabet City's alternate name Loisaida , which is also used as the alternate name for Avenue C,
1780-462: A greater number of patrons, were able to accumulate greater numbers of books. The United Public Library was said to have a collection of some 52,000 volumes – twice as many as any private-subscription library in the country at that period. These libraries, since they functioned as a business, also lent books to non-subscribers on a per-book system. Despite the existence of these subscription libraries, they were only accessible to those who could afford
1958-468: A hundred art galleries in the East Village by the mid-1980s. These included Patti Astor and Bill Stelling's Fun Gallery at 11th Street, as well as numerous galleries on 7th Street. By 1987 the visual arts scene was in decline. Many of these art galleries relocated to more profitable neighborhoods such as SoHo , or closed altogether. The arts scene had become a victim of its own success, since
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#17327982290342136-531: A larger district focused around lower Second Avenue. before later being expanded. In January 2012 the East 10th Street Historic District was designated by the LPC, and that October, the larger East Village/Lower East Side Historic District was also designated by the LPC. Several notable buildings are designated as individual landmarks, some due to the GVSHP's efforts. These include: Landmark efforts have included
2314-410: A later development, which were made possible by the establishment of County Councils in 1888. They normally have a large central library in a major town with smaller branch libraries in other towns and a mobile library service covering rural areas. A new Public Libraries Act was passed in 1964. Local authorities were to provide a "comprehensive and efficient" library service. Public libraries built in
2492-407: A matter of prime importance. By the end of 1855, Cogswell was able to report that the catalog was finished, excepting only a small portion of history. The collection was grouped into 14 departments, for each of which a separate catalog was prepared. The alphabetical index to these separate catalogs formed the basis of the printed catalog issued during 1857–1861 in 4 volumes. The timing and the format of
2670-593: A number of enclaves of free or "half-free" Africans, which served as a buffer between the Dutch and the Native Americans. One of the largest of these was located along the modern Bowery between Prince Street and Astor Place , as well as the "only separate enclave" of this type within Manhattan. These Black farmers were some of the earliest settlers of the area. There were several "boweries" within what
2848-600: A number of losses as well. For instance, although the GVSHP and allied groups asked in 2012 that the Mary Help of Christians school, church and rectory be designated as landmarks, the site was demolished starting in 2013. In 2011, an early 19th-century Federal house at 35 Cooper Square – one of the oldest on the Bowery and in the East Village ;– was approved for demolition to make way for
3026-453: A place for other forms of commercial activity, which may or may not be related to print. This was necessary because the circulating libraries did not generate enough funds through subscription fees collected from its borrowers. As a commerce venture, it was important to consider the contributing factors such as other goods or services available to the subscribers. The Malatestiana Library ( Italian : Biblioteca Malatestiana ), also known as
3204-481: A population of 10,000 or more to raise a ½d for the establishment of museums". This became the Museums Act 1845 . The advocacy of Ewart and Brotherton then succeeded in having a select committee set up to consider public library provision. The Report argued that the provision of public libraries would steer people towards temperate and moderate habits. With a view to maximising the potential of current facilities,
3382-468: A result of real-estate price increases following the success of the arts scene. In the 1970s, rents were extremely low and the neighborhood was considered one of the least desirable places in Manhattan to live in. However, as early as 1983, the Times reported that because of the influx of artists, many longtime establishments and immigrants were being forced to leave the East Village due to rising rents. By
3560-501: A second set of laws was passed in 1879, requiring each room to have windows, resulting in the creation of air shafts between each building. Subsequent tenements built to the law's specifications were referred to as Old Law Tenements . Reform movements, such as the one started by Jacob Riis 's 1890 book How the Other Half Lives , continued to attempt to alleviate the problems of the area through settlement houses , such as
3738-843: A significant impact in the East Side, erecting houses of worship next to each other along 7th Street at the turn of the 20th century. American-born New Yorkers would build other churches and community institutions, including the Olivet Memorial Church at 59 East 2nd Street (built 1891), the Middle Collegiate Church at 112 Second Avenue (built 1891–1892), and the Society of the Music School Settlement, now Third Street Music School Settlement , at 53–55 East 3rd Street (converted 1903–1904). By
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#17327982290343916-418: A simple majority. It also allowed neighbouring parishes to combine with an existing or potential library authority. Despite the rise in the level of tax public libraries could levy, it was still very difficult for boroughs to raise enough capital to fund new libraries. The growth of the public library movement in the wake of the 1850 Act relied heavily on the donations of philanthropists. County libraries were
4094-474: A subject or rather a broadly grouped classed catalog. The cards were about 5 inches long by 3 inches (76 mm) high. For author entries reliance was made upon the interleaved copies of the Cogswell printed catalog and upon a set of author cards – by no means a complete record – for public use. In 1880 when work began upon the new printed catalog this card catalog was closed; its author cards were destroyed when
4272-585: A supporter of the temperance movement , was able to secure the Chair of the select committee which would examine "the extent, causes, and consequences of the prevailing vice of intoxication among the labouring classes of the United Kingdom" and propose solutions. Francis Place , a campaigner for the working class, agreed that "the establishment of parish libraries and district reading rooms, and popular lectures on subjects both entertaining and instructive to
4450-471: A theater. It was converted for theater use by Giorgio Cavaglieri . The building is a New York City Landmark , designated in 1965. Public library There are five fundamental characteristics shared by public libraries: (1) they are generally supported by taxes (usually local, though any level of government can and may contribute); (2) they are governed by a board to serve the public interest; (3) they are open to all, and every community member can access
4628-465: A variety of materials including the increasingly popular novels . Although the circulating libraries filled an important role in society, members of the middle and upper classes often looked down upon these libraries that regularly sold material from their collections and provided materials that were less sophisticated. Circulating libraries also charged a subscription fee . However, these fees were set to entice their patrons, providing subscriptions on
4806-434: A year; meanwhile he was to receive $ 2,000 while working on the catalog. Thus matters stood until Astor's death in 1848: Cogswell lived with or near Astor, and worked on plans for the library as opportunity offered. The first meeting of the trustees came on May 20, 1848. Cogswell was appointed superintendent of the library, with authority to convene the trustees and to preside over their meetings. The name of "The Astor Library"
4984-591: A yearly, quarterly or monthly basis, without expecting the subscribers to purchase a share in the circulating library. This helped patrons who could not afford to buy books, to be able to borrow books to read, and then return. This also created a more popular demand, as book fees were growing, and more books were being copied. Circulating libraries were very popular; the first one was located in 1725, in Edinburgh, Scotland , by Allan Ramsay . Circulating libraries were not exclusively lending institutions and often provided
5162-634: Is a neighborhood on the East Side of Lower Manhattan in New York City , United States. It is roughly defined as the area east of the Bowery and Third Avenue , between 14th Street on the north and Houston Street on the south. The East Village contains three subsections: Alphabet City , in reference to the single-letter-named avenues that are located to the east of First Avenue ; Little Ukraine , near Second Avenue and 6th and 7th Streets; and
5340-432: Is now the East Village. Bowery no. 2 passed through several inhabitants, before the eastern half of the land was subdivided and given to Harmen Smeeman in 1647. Peter Stuyvesant , the director-general of New Netherland, owned adjacent bowery no. 1 and bought bowery no. 2 in 1656 for his farm . Stuyvesant's manor, also called Bowery, was near what is now 10th Street between Second and Third Avenues. Though
5518-695: Is patrolled by the 9th Precinct of the New York City Police Department . Unlike the West Village , the East Village is not located within Greenwich Village . The area that is today known as the East Village was originally occupied by the Lenape Native people. The Lenape relocated during different seasons, moving toward the shore to fish during the summers, and moving inland to hunt and grow crops during
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5696-419: Is to serve the general public's information needs rather than the needs of a particular school, institution, or research population. Public libraries also provide free services such as preschool story times to encourage early literacy among children. They also provide a quiet study and learning areas for students and professionals and foster the formation of book clubs to encourage the appreciation of literature by
5874-503: The Library Journal of September–October 1881. During the fifteen years following 1880, there was continuous but uneven growth of resources as signified by the number of volumes on the shelves, an increase from 193,308 in 1880 to 227,652 in 1885, to 248,856 in 1890, and to 294,325 at the end of 1895. Purchases reached their low level in 1888 when 876 volumes were bought, and their high level in 1894 when 6,886 volumes were bought,
6052-494: The Astor family and Stephen Whitney . The developers rarely involved themselves with the daily operations of the tenements, instead subcontracting landlords (many of them immigrants or their children) to run each building. Numerous tenements were erected, typically with footprints of 25 by 25 feet (7.6 by 7.6 m), before regulatory legislation was passed in the 1860s. To address concerns about unsafe and unsanitary conditions,
6230-424: The Bowery , located around the street of the same name. Initially the location of the present-day East Village was occupied by the Lenape Native people, and was then divided into plantations by Dutch settlers. During the early 19th century, the East Village contained many of the city's most opulent estates. By the middle of the century, it grew to include a large immigrant population – including what
6408-568: The Harvard library and by a wide experience in the Boston book trade. The new printed catalog covered up to 1880. It had a fuller quotation of titles than the first one, a more extensive analysis of the contents of collected or comprehensive works, and greater attention to securing full names of authors. It appeared in four volumes, 1886–1888. As a catalog and as a printed book, it was a thoroughly satisfactory piece of work. The entire cost of printing
6586-613: The Henry Street Settlement , and other welfare and service agencies. Because most of the new immigrants were German speakers, the East Village and the Lower East Side collectively became known as " Little Germany " (German: Kleindeutschland ). The neighborhood had the third largest urban population of Germans outside of Vienna and Berlin . It was America's first foreign language neighborhood; hundreds of political, social, sports and recreational clubs were set up during this period. Numerous churches were built in
6764-661: The Lenox Library and the Tilden Foundation to become the New York Public Library (NYPL). During this time, its building was expanded twice, in 1859, and 1881. In 1836, ill health had obligated Joseph Cogswell to abandon his teaching career and enter the family of Samuel Ward , a New York banker. Three of Ward's sons had been pupils at Round Hill School which Cogswell had administered. Ward introduced Cogswell to John Jacob Astor, who by then
6942-546: The Mayor of New York City and the Chancellor of New York State, ex officio . (The Chancellor later disappeared from the plan when the office was abolished.) In December 1842, $ 75,000 was fixed as the amount to be expended for the building, and Charles Astor Bristed was added to the list of trustees. By November 1840, Samuel Ward had died, and Cogswell began residing with Astor and his son William B. Astor. Sometimes he had
7120-918: The Nuyorican literary movement. Multiple former Yiddish theaters were converted for use by Off-Broadway shows: for instance, the Public Theater at 66 Second Avenue became the Phyllis Anderson Theater. Numerous buildings on East 4th Street hosted Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway productions, including the Royal Playhouse, the Fourth Street Theatre, the Downtown Theatre, the La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club , and
7298-473: The Nuyorican Poets Café . Some of the neighborhoods most iconic establishments such as Pyramid Club and Lucy's have since shuttered due to new ownership and subsequent evictions . Alphabet City also contains St. Marks Place , the continuation of Eighth Street between Third Avenue and Avenue A. The street contains a Japanese street culture; an aged punk culture and CBGB 's new store;
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7476-495: The Third Avenue elevated railway above the Bowery and Third Avenue was removed. This in turn made the neighborhood more attractive to potential residents; in 1960 The New York Times reported: "This area is gradually becoming recognized as an extension of Greenwich Village ... thereby extending New York's Bohemia from river to river." The 1960 Times article stated that rental agents were increasingly referring to
7654-766: The earliest form of writing – the clay tablets in cuneiform script discovered in temple rooms in Sumer , some dating back to 2600 BC. They appeared five thousand years ago in Southwest Asia's Fertile Crescent , an area that ran from Mesopotamia to the Nile in Africa. Known as the cradle of civilization, the Fertile Crescent was likewise the birthplace of writing, sometime before 3000 BC. (Murray, Stuart A.P.) These first libraries, which mainly consisted of
7832-424: The $ 75,000 limit: the lowest, by contractors whose ability to finish the work was by no means satisfactorily established, amounted to $ 81,385.75; the highest, by thoroughly satisfactory contractors, amounted to $ 107,962. Saeltzer's plan was reworked, and for this plan the construction bid of $ 75,000, by Peter J. Bogert and James Harriot, was accepted on January 2, 1850. The cornerstone was laid on March 14, 1850, and
8010-421: The 1790s, gave the city of New York the ability to plan out, open, and close streets. The final plan, published in 1811, resulted in the current street grid north of Houston Street – and most of the streets in the modern East Village – were conformed to this plan, except for Stuyvesant Street. The north–south avenues within the Lower East Side were finished in the 1810s, followed by
8188-704: The 1830s, at the height of the Chartist movement, there was a general tendency towards reformism in the United Kingdom. The middle classes were concerned that the workers' free time was not being well-spent. This was prompted more by Victorian middle class paternalism than by demand from the lower social orders. Campaigners felt that encouraging the lower classes to spend their free time on morally uplifting activities, such as reading, would promote greater social good. Salford Museum and Art Gallery first opened in November 1850 as "The Royal Museum & Public Library", as
8366-532: The 1880s that these families "look[ed] down with disdain upon the parvenus of Fifth avenue". In general, though, the wealthy population of the neighborhood started to decline as many moved northward. Immigrants from modern-day Ireland, Germany, and Austria moved into the rowhouses and manors. The population of Manhattan's 17th ward – which includes the western part of the East Village and Lower East Side – grew from 18,000 in 1840 to over 43,000 by 1850 and to 73,000 persons in 1860, becoming
8544-558: The 1890s tenements were being designed in the ornate Queen Anne and Romanesque Revival styles. Tenements built in the later part of the decade were built in the Renaissance Revival style. At the time, the area was increasingly being identified as part of the Lower East Side. By the 1890s and 1900s any remaining manors on Second Avenue had been demolished and replaced with tenements or apartment buildings. The New York State Tenement House Act of 1901 drastically changed
8722-405: The 18th century to today; as the country grew more populous and wealthier, factors such as a push for education and desire to share knowledge led to broad public support for free libraries. In addition, money donations by private philanthropists provided the seed capital to get many libraries started. In some instances, collectors donated large book collections. The first modern public library in
8900-559: The 1960s were characterized by modernism. The modern public library grew at a great pace at the end of the 19th century especially in the English-speaking world . Philanthropists and businessmen, including John Passmore Edwards , Henry Tate and Andrew Carnegie , helped to fund the establishment of large numbers of public libraries for the edification of the masses. Public libraries in North America developed from
9078-617: The 20th century. A substantial portion of the neighborhood, including the Ukrainian enclave, was slated for demolition under the Cooper Square Urban Renewal Plan of 1956, which was to redevelop the area from Ninth to Delancey Streets from the Bowery/Third Avenue to Chrystie Street /Second Avenue with new privately owned cooperative housing . The United Housing Foundation was selected as
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#17327982290349256-496: The 21st century. The city first released a draft in July 2006, which concerned an area bounded by East 13th Street on the north, Third Avenue on the west, Delancey Street on the south, and Avenue D on the east. The rezoning proposal was done in response to concerns about the character and scale of some of the new buildings in the neighborhood. Despite protests and accusations of promoting gentrification and increased property values over
9434-524: The Church of England or other gentlemen or persons of letters", but it was limited to just 422 volumes of mostly ecclesiastical and legal works. In Germany, there was another occurrence of an accessible public library. The Ducal Library at Wolfenbüttel was open "every weekday morning and afternoon" and loaned its books to the public. Between 1714 and 1799, the library loaned 31,485 books to 1,648 different users. These types of public libraries, much closer to
9612-401: The East Side and NoHo by the early 1830s. One set of Federal-style rowhouses was built in the 1830s by Thomas E. Davis on 8th Street between Second and Third Avenues . That block was renamed " St. Mark's Place " and is one of the few remaining terrace names in the East Village. In 1833 Davis and Arthur Bronson bought the entire block of 10th Street from Avenue A to Avenue B . The block
9790-456: The East Side. It contained many theaters and other forms of entertainment for the Jewish immigrants of the city. While most of the early Yiddish theaters were located south of Houston Street, several theater producers were considering moving north along Second Avenue by the first decades of the 20th century. Second Avenue gained more prominence as a Yiddish theater destination in the 1910s with
9968-505: The East Side. One notable address was the twelve-house development called "Albion Place", located on Fourth Street between the Bowery and Second Avenue, built for Peck and Phelps in 1832–1833. Second Avenue also had its own concentration of mansions, though most residences on that avenue were row houses built by speculative land owners , including the Isaac T. Hopper House . One New York Evening Post article in 1846 said that Second Avenue
10146-523: The East Village/Lower East Side Historic District. On March 26, 2015, a gas explosion occurred on Second Avenue after a gas line was tapped. The explosion and resulting fire destroyed three buildings at 119, 121 and 123 Second Avenue, between East 7th Street and St. Marks Place . Two people were killed, and at least twenty-two people were injured, four critically. Three restaurants were also destroyed in
10324-665: The Eastern Mediterranean (see Library of Alexandria § In antiquity ). Historian Yahya of Antioch (d. 1066) reported that the Fatimid Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah ( r. 996–1021 ) financed and established libraries open to the public, where anyone, even the simple non-specialists, could choose whatever books they wanted and have them copied by public scribes, free of charge. However, as with many of his other decisions, Al-Hakim later ordered this policy to be reversed. In Cesena, Italy,
10502-486: The French philologist and churchman, operated an early form of a public library in the town of Saulieu from 1737 to 1750. He wished to make culture and learning accessible to all people. The Załuski Library ( Polish : Biblioteka Załuskich , Latin : Bibliotheca Zalusciana ) was built in Warsaw 1747–1795 by Józef Andrzej Załuski and his brother, Andrzej Stanisław Załuski , both Roman Catholic bishops. The library
10680-513: The GVSHP are actively working to gain individual and district landmark designations for the East Village to preserve and protect the architectural and cultural identity of the neighborhood. In early 2011 the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) proposed two East Village historic districts: a small district along the block of 10th Street that lies north of Tompkins Square Park , and
10858-676: The Malatesta Novello Library, is a public library dating from 1452 in Cesena , Emilia-Romagna ( Italy ). It was the first European civic library , i.e. belonging to the Commune and open to everybody. It was commissioned by the Lord of Cesena, Malatesta Novello . The works were directed by Matteo Nuti of Fano (a scholar of Leon Battista Alberti ) and lasted from 1447 to 1452. The first libraries consisted of archives of
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#173279822903411036-539: The Manhattan side of the East River" has shifted in part to new neighborhoods like Williamsburg in Brooklyn . There are still some performance spaces, such as Sidewalk Cafe on 6th Street and Avenue A , where downtown acts find space to exhibit their talent, as well as the poetry clubs Bowery Poetry Club and Nuyorican Poets Café . In the late 20th and early 21st centuries the East Village became gentrified as
11214-584: The Other Half Lives Riis wrote: "A map of the city, colored to designate nationalities, would show more stripes than on the skin of a zebra, and more colors than any rainbow." One of the first groups to populate the former Little Germany were Yiddish -speaking Ashkenazi Jews , who first settled south of Houston Street before moving northward. The Roman Catholic Poles as well as the Protestant Hungarians would also have
11392-555: The Southern Hemisphere (3 vols) which was borrowed on 201 occasions. The records also show that in 1796, membership had risen by 1/3 to 198 subscribers (of whom 5 were women) and the titles increased five-fold to 4,987. This mirrors the increase in reading interests. A patron list from the Bath Municipal Library shows that from 1793 to 1799, the library held a stable 30% of their patrons as female. It
11570-473: The Truck & Warehouse Theater just on the block between Bowery and Second Avenue. By the 1970s and 1980s the city in general was in decline and nearing bankruptcy, especially after the 1975 New York City fiscal crisis . Residential buildings in the East Village suffered from high levels of neglect, as property owners did not properly maintain their buildings. The city purchased many of these buildings, but
11748-581: The United States. The state government at Albany sent extensive selections of public documents of New York. In 1855, the British commissioners of patents presented a complete set of their publications, Maine forwarded complete sets of state documents, and Massachusetts and Rhode Island took a similar step in 1856. In the beginning, there were no printed catalogs of the library to assist readers in choosing books and readers were not admitted within
11926-409: The advance in market value of United States bonds. The building was opened to the public on January 9, 1854. Hours were fixed at 10 a.m. to 5 pm. For January no books were available, but visitors were welcome. On February 1, use of books began. The library was closed on Sundays and established holidays. It was a reference library: no books could be taken from the building for any purpose. Admission
12104-467: The annual message of Governor Hamilton Fish . The trustees appointed by the act were Washington Irving, William Backhouse Astor, Daniel Lord, Jr., James G. King, Joseph Green Cogswell, Fitz-Greene Halleck, Samuel B. Ruggles, Samuel Ward, Jr., Charles Astor Bristed, John Adams Dix, and the Mayor of New York City. In April 1849, the trustees hired a house at 32 Bond Street for temporary custody and exhibition of
12282-436: The area as "Village East" or "East Village". The new name was used to dissociate the area from the image of slums evoked by the Lower East Side. According to The New York Times , a 1964 guide called Earl Wilson's New York wrote: "Artists, poets and promoters of coffeehouses from Greenwich Village are trying to remelt the neighborhood under the high-sounding name of 'East Village'." Newcomers and real estate brokers popularized
12460-437: The area's history and need for affordable housing, the rezoning was approved in 2008. Among other things, the zoning established height limits for new development throughout the affected area, modified allowable density of real estate, capped air rights transfers, eliminated the current zoning bonus for dorms and hotels, and created incentives for the creation and retention of affordable housing. Local community groups such as
12638-399: The base of many academic and public library collections of today. The establishment of circulating libraries in the 18th century by booksellers and publishers provided a means of gaining profit and creating social centers within the community. The circulating libraries not only provided a place to sell books, but also a place to lend books for a price. These circulating libraries provided
12816-467: The board of trustees. In 1876, a beginning was made on a public card catalog . For books purchased since 1866, there was until this time no public index of subjects other than the knowledge possessed by the librarians as to the books on the shelves. At the end of 1877, the library had 177,387 volumes on its shelves. Straznicky died in 1876, and J. Carson Brevoort , a trustee, was chosen to be superintendent. In February 1878, Brevoort resigned. His successor
12994-422: The books they had purchased. The trustees stated that "all persons desirous of resorting to the library and of examining books, may do so with all the convenience which it is in the power of the trustees to afford." At this time, the total number of books in the library was estimated at over 20,000 volumes, costing $ 27,009.33. A German-born architect, Alexander Saeltzer – who had designed Anshe Chesed Synagogue , –
13172-415: The building completed in the summer of 1853. The limit of $ 75,000 proved an impossible one. William B. Astor bore the expense of $ 1,590 for groined arches to render the structure more secure from fire, and shelving and apparatus for heating and ventilating were paid for to the amount of $ 17,141.99 from surplus interest accruing from the funds while the building was in progress and from the premium realized by
13350-518: The catalog went against Cogswell's judgment, but accorded with the desire of the trustees to put before the public a tangible result of their work. In 1866, a supplement was issued. The first catalog recorded approximately 115,000 volumes. The supplement of 1866 recorded the accessions of five years, about 15,000 volumes, and carried with it an index to subjects. It was imperfect, but also the work of someone who knew books and knew how to guide others to them. On October 31, 1855, W. B. Astor donated land for
13528-472: The city's most highly populated ward at that time. As a result of the Panic of 1837 , the city had experienced less construction in the previous years, and so there was a dearth of units available for immigrants, resulting in the subdivision of many houses in lower Manhattan. Another solution was brand-new "tenant houses", or tenements , within the East Side. Clusters of these buildings were constructed by
13706-645: The clergy and residents of the surrounding neighborhood. Some scholars consider this library an "ancestor" to public libraries since its patrons did not need to belong to an existing organization like a church or college to use it. However, all the books in the library were chained to stalls and unavailable to borrow, hence its name: the Francis Trigge Chained Library. In the early years of the 17th century, many famous collegiate and town libraries were founded in England. Norwich City library
13884-480: The collection; (4) they are entirely voluntary, no one is ever forced to use the services provided; and (5) they provide library and information services without charge. Public libraries exist in many countries across the world and are often considered an essential part of having an educated and literate population. Public libraries are distinct from research libraries , school libraries , academic libraries in other states and other special libraries . Their mandate
14062-518: The committee made two significant recommendations. They suggested that the government should issue grants to aid the foundation of libraries and that the Museums Act 1845 should be amended and extended to allow for a tax to be levied for the establishment of public libraries. Objections were raised about the increase in taxation , the potential infringement on private enterprise and the existing library provision such as mechanics' institutes and
14240-435: The community might draw off a number of those who now frequent public houses for the sole enjoyment they afford". Buckingham introduced to Parliament a Public Institution Bill allowing boroughs to charge a tax to set up libraries and museums, the first of its kind. Although this did not become law, it had a major influence on William Ewart MP and Joseph Brotherton MP, who introduced a bill which would "[empower] boroughs with
14418-405: The day to read, more for amusement than improvement, and shun their classical lessons by the use of English translations." On Cogswell's recommendation, the trustees raised the age limit to 16. In Cogswell's judgment, by this act the library "assumed its proper character, and became a place of quiet study, where every one found ample accommodation." The question of a catalog was to Cogswell's mind
14596-461: The district's theaters hosted as many as twenty to thirty shows a night. After World War II Yiddish theater became less popular, and by the mid-1950s few theaters were still extant in the District. The city built First Houses on the south side of East 3rd Street between First Avenue and Avenue A , and on the west side of Avenue A between East 2nd and East 3rd Streets in 1935–1936,
14774-579: The early 21st century some buildings in the area were torn down and replaced by newer buildings. Due to the gentrification of the neighborhood, parties including the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP), Manhattan Community Board 3 , the East Village Community Coalition, and City Councilmember Rosie Mendez , began calling for a change to the area's zoning in the first decade of
14952-558: The end of the 18th century and in the first decades of the 19th century, the demand for books and general education made itself felt among social classes generated by the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution. The late-18th century saw a rise in subscription libraries intended for the use of tradesmen. In 1797, there was established at Kendal what was known as the Economical Library, "designed principally for
15130-516: The end of the Astor Library. It had been an important factor in the intellectual life of New York, and its influence had not been confined to the political or physical boundaries of the city. There were few scholars or investigators in the latter half of the nineteenth century who had not at some time used its collections. It had been conceived in the mind of Joseph Cogswell, a scholar and book lover, and its growth and development followed closely
15308-516: The establishment of a public library appeared in July 1838. At that point, the sum named was $ 350,000, and included a lot of land for the necessary building. One immediate consequence of the announcement was that Astor was beset by innumerable requests for money, and Astor decided to change his planned gift from a donation during his lifetime to a bequest in his will. By March 1839, Cogswell was asking Astor for money to purchase books at an auction, and Astor inquired whether it might not be possible to put
15486-577: The expansion of the Library. Work on an extension began at once. The designer of the addition was Griffith Thomas . The new building was opened to the public on September 1, 1859, the number of volumes in the library being estimated at about 110,000. Washington Irving, president of the board of trustees , died November 28, 1859; he was succeeded as president by W. B. Astor. Cogswell resigned as superintendent in 1861, and Francis Schroeder, former pupil of his at Round Hill and American minister to Sweden in 1850,
15664-526: The expansion to a back room, to the spacious elegant areas of Hookham's or those at the resorts like Scarborough, and four in a row at Margate. Private-subscription libraries held a greater amount of control over both membership and the types of books in the library. There was almost a complete elimination of cheap fiction in the private societies. Subscription libraries prided themselves on respectability. The highest percentage of subscribers were often landed proprietors, gentry, and old professions. Towards
15842-565: The explosion. Landlord Maria Hrynenko and an unlicensed plumber and another employee were sentenced to prison time for their part in causing the explosion in New York State Supreme Court. Ms. Hrynenko allowed an illegal gas line to be constructed on her property. Neighboring the East Village are the Lower East Side to the south, NoHo to the west, Stuyvesant Park to the northwest, and Stuyvesant Town to
16020-534: The fall and winter. Manhattan was purchased in 1626 by Peter Minuit of the Dutch West India Company , who served as director-general of New Netherland . The population of the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam was located primarily below the current Fulton Street , while north of it were a number of small plantations and large farms that were then called bouwerij (anglicized to "boweries"; modern Dutch : boerderij ). Around these farms were
16198-546: The fear that it would give rise to "unhealthy social agitation". The Bill passed through Parliament as most MPs felt that public libraries would provide facilities for self-improvement through books and reading for all classes, and that the greater levels of education attained by providing public libraries would result in lower crime rates . Under the terms of the Museums Act of 1845 , the municipalities of Warrington and Salford established libraries in their museums. Warrington Municipal Library opened in 1848. Although by
16376-510: The fees and to those with time to read during the daylight. As stated by James Van Horn Melton, "one should not overstate the extent to which lending libraries 'democratized' reading" since "they were probably less important for creating new readers than for enabling those who already read to read more." For many people, these libraries, though more accessible than libraries such as the British Library, were still largely an institution for
16554-636: The first community-run public library, the Malatestiana Library , was established in 1447, provided both secular and religious texts in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and was fully open to all members of the public. Another early library that allowed access to the public was Kalendars or Kalendaries, a brotherhood of clergy and laity who were attached to the Church of All-Halloween or All Saints in Bristol , England. Records show that in 1464, provision
16732-533: The first displaced Greenwich Villagers to move to the area were writers Allen Ginsberg , W. H. Auden , and Norman Mailer , who all moved to the area in 1951–1953. A cluster of cooperative art galleries on East 10th Street (later collectively referred to as the 10th Street galleries ) were opened around the same time, starting with the Tanger and the Hansa which both opened in 1952. Further change came in 1955 when
16910-520: The first such public housing project in the United States. The neighborhood originally ended at the East River , to the east of where Avenue D was later located. In the mid-20th-century, landfill – including World War II debris and rubble shipped from London – was used to extend the shoreline to provide foundation for the Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive . In
17088-579: The first unconditionally free public library in England. The library in Campfield , Manchester was the first library to operate a "free" lending library without subscription in 1852. Norwich lays claim to being the first municipality to adopt the Public Libraries Act 1850 (which allowed any municipal borough with a population of 100,000 or more to introduce a halfpenny rate to establish public libraries—although not to buy books). Norwich
17266-412: The first year the average daily use was about 100 volumes, with a total for the year of about 30,000. No one topic seemed to dominate the rest, though on the whole the fine arts collection was the most extensively used. The number of readers in the first year varied from 30 for the lowest day to 150 for the highest. For some time, the library was beset by crowds of schoolboys who "come in at certain hours of
17444-481: The following year, young professionals constituted a large portion of the neighborhood's demographics. Even so, crimes remained prevalent and there were often drug deals being held openly in Tompkins Square Park. Tensions over gentrification resulted in the 1988 Tompkins Square Park riot , which occurred following opposition to a proposed curfew that had targeted the park's homeless. The aftermath of
17622-631: The form of novels. The national average start of the 20th century hovered around novels comprising about 20% of the total collection. Novels varied from other types of books in many ways. They were read primarily for enjoyment instead of for study. They did not provide academic knowledge or spiritual guidance; thus, they were read quickly and far fewer times than other books. These were the perfect books for commercial subscription libraries to lend. Since books were read for pure enjoyment rather than for scholarly work, books needed to become both cheaper and smaller. Small duodecimo editions of books were preferred to
17800-433: The former location of one of New York City's only Automats ; and a portion of the "Mosaic Trail", a trail of eighty mosaic-encrusted lampposts that runs from Broadway down Eighth Street to Avenue A, to Fourth Street and then back to Eighth Street. Alphabet City was once the archetype of a dangerous New York City neighborhood. Its turn-around was cause for The New York Times to observe in 2005 that Alphabet City went "from
17978-502: The grid system that was ultimately laid out under the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 , which is offset by 28.9 degrees clockwise. Stuyvesant Street formed the border between former boweries 1 and 2, and the grid surrounding it included four north–south and nine west–east streets. Because each landowner had done their own survey, there were different street grids that did not align with each other. Various state laws, passed in
18156-571: The hour for opening was moved at 9 am. Closing time stayed at 5 p.m. except during the short days of the winter months when it took place at 4 or 4:30 pm. Alexander Hamilton, president of the board, died in 1889, and Hamilton Fish was chosen to succeed him as president. After two years, in 1891, Thomas M. Markoe was chosen to the office, which he held until the 1895 consolidation. John Jacob Astor III, son of William B. and grandson of John Jacob Astor, died in 1890, having served as trustee since 1858 and as treasurer since 1868. By his will, $ 400,000
18334-403: The large folio editions. Folio editions were read at a desk, while the small duodecimo editions could be easily read like the paperbacks of today. The French journalist Louis-Sébastien Mercier wrote that the books were also separated into parts so that readers could rent a section of the book for some hours instead of a full day. This allowed more readers could have access to the same work at
18512-497: The largest), and was accommodated, at the outset, in makeshift premises—very often over a bookshop, with the bookseller acting as librarian and receiving an honorarium for his pains. The Liverpool subscription library was a gentlemen-only library. In 1798, it was renamed the Athenaeum when it was rebuilt with a newsroom and coffeehouse. It had an entrance fee of one guinea and annual subscription of five shillings. An analysis of
18690-685: The last resident moved out of the Thomas E. Davis mansion at Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place, which The New York Times had called the "last fashionable residence" on Second Avenue. In 1916, the Slovenian community and Franciscans established the Slovenian Church of St. Cyril , which still operates. Simultaneously with the decline of the last manors, the Yiddish Theatre District or "Yiddish Rialto" developed within
18868-442: The last two decades of the century, especially, prices were practically doubled, so that a quarto work cost a guinea , an octavo 10 shillings or 12 shillings, and a duodecimo cost 4 shillings per volume. Price apart, moreover, books were difficult to procure outside London since local booksellers could not afford to carry large stocks. Commercial libraries, since they were usually associated with booksellers and also since they had
19046-409: The library received a large collection of official publications relating to India; New Zealand, New South Wales , Canada, Italy, France, Prussia were moved also to make valuable contributions of documents and statistical material. The Hepworth Dixon collection of English Civil War pamphlets, about five hundred in number, was presented in 1880 by John Jacob Astor III. By 1882 nearly half the library
19224-614: The library, The readers average from one to two hundred daily, and they read excellent books, except the young fry, who employ all the hours they are out of school In reading the trashy, as Scott , Cooper , Dickens , Punch , and the Illustrated News . Even this is better than spinning street yarns, and as long as they continue perfectly orderly and quiet, as they now are, I shall not object to their amusing themselves with poor books." — Cogswell, to George Ticknor , 24 February 1854, after his library had been open six weeks For
19402-528: The manor burned down in the 1770s, his family held onto the land for over seven generations, until a descendant began selling off parcels in the early 19th century. Bowery no. 3 was located near today's 2nd Street between Second Avenue and the modern street named Bowery. It was owned by Gerrit Hendricksen in 1646 and later given to Philip Minthorne by 1732. The Minthorne and Stuyvesant families both held enslaved people on their farms. According to an 1803 deed, enslaved people held by Stuyvesant were to be buried in
19580-555: The mid-19th century, England could claim 274 subscription libraries and Scotland, 266, the foundation of the modern public library system in Britain is the Public Libraries Act 1850 . The Act first gave local boroughs the power to establish free public libraries and was the first legislative step toward the creation of an enduring national institution that provides universal free access to information and literature. In
19758-539: The mid-19th century, there were virtually no public libraries in the sense in which we now understand the term, i.e., libraries provided with public funds and freely accessible to all. Only one important library in Britain, namely Chetham's Library in Manchester, was fully and freely accessible to the public. The Chesshyre Library in Halton , Cheshire was founded as a free public library in 1733 for all "divines of
19936-465: The mid-20th century Ukrainians created a Ukrainian enclave in the neighborhood, centered around Second Avenue and 6th and 7th Streets. The Polish enclave in the East Village persisted as well. Numerous other immigrant groups had moved out, and their former churches were sold and became Orthodox cathedrals . Latin American immigrants started to move to the East Side, settling in the eastern part of
20114-529: The middle and upper classes. In A.D 1820, the State Central Library, Kerala started functioning in Trivandrum , India, which is not only India's first public library but also the first such institution outside of Europe. However, there had come into being a whole network of library provisions on a private or institutional basis. Subscription libraries, both private and commercial, provided
20292-433: The middle to upper classes with a variety of books for moderate fees. Private-subscription libraries functioned in much the same manner as commercial subscription libraries, though they varied in many important ways. One of the most popular versions of the private-subscription library was the "gentlemen only" library. The gentlemen's subscription libraries, sometimes known as proprietary libraries, were nearly all organized on
20470-568: The mutilation of some of the library's volumes. This was apparently done mostly for convenience: Instead of writing down extracts, readers cut out the sections with the information they needed. Volumes consulted had increased from 59,516 in 1860 to 135,065 in 1875. In 1875, W. B. Astor died and left $ 249,000 to the library. Besides this bequest, the library received $ 10,000 for the purchase of books from his son, John Jacob Astor III , in February 1876. Alexander Hamilton (1816–1889) became president of
20648-611: The neighborhood and creating an enclave that later came to be known as Loisaida . The East Side's population started to decline at the start of the Great Depression in the 1930s and the implementation of the Immigration Act of 1924 , and the expansion of the New York City Subway into the outer boroughs. Many old tenements, deemed to be "blighted" and unnecessary, were destroyed in the middle of
20826-541: The neighborhood, Manhattan's 17th ward was split from the 11th ward in 1837. The former covered the area from Avenue B to the Bowery, while the latter covered the area from Avenue B to the East River . By the middle of the 19th century, many of the wealthy had continued to move further northward to the Upper West Side and the Upper East Side . Some wealthy families remained, and one observer noted in
21004-712: The neighborhood, of which many are still extant. In addition, Little Germany also had its own library on Second Avenue, now the New York Public Library 's Ottendorfer branch. However, the community started to decline after the sinking of the General Slocum on June 15, 1904, in which more than a thousand German-Americans died. The Germans who moved out of the area were replaced by immigrants of many different nationalities. This included groups of Italians and Eastern European Jews, as well as Greeks, Hungarians, Poles, Romanians, Russians, Slovaks and Ukrainians, each of whom settled in relatively homogeneous enclaves. In How
21182-730: The neighborhood. These included the Fillmore East Music Hall (later a gay private nightclub called The Saint), which was located in a movie theater at 105 Second Avenue. The Phyllis Anderson Theatre was converted into Second Avenue Theater, an annex of the CBGB music club, and hosted musicians and bands such as Bruce Springsteen , Patti Smith , and Talking Heads . The Pyramid Club , which opened in 1979 at 101 Avenue A, hosted musical acts such as Nirvana and Red Hot Chili Peppers , as well as drag performers such as RuPaul and Ann Magnuson . In addition, there were more than
21360-435: The new catalog was issued, but revision of the subject group continued as occasion offered until after the 1895 consolidation. After 1880, three card catalogs continued until the 1895 consolidation: (1) an official "Bulletin", on large cards, for works acquired after 1880, mainly an author arrangement; (2) the public "small card" catalog, a dictionary catalog of authors and subjects; (3) the official "small card" catalog, likewise
21538-543: The new name, and the term was adopted by the popular media by the mid-1960s. A weekly newspaper with the neighborhood's new name, The East Village Other , started publication in 1966. The New York Times declared that the neighborhood "had come to be known" as the East Village in the edition of June 5, 1967. The East Village became a center of the counterculture in New York, and was the birthplace and historical home of many artistic movements, including punk rock and
21716-492: The northeast. The East Village contains several smaller vibrant communities, each with its own character. Alphabet City is the eastern section of the East Village that is so named because it contains avenues with single-lettered names, e.g. Avenues A , B , C , and D . It is bordered by Houston Street to the south and 14th Street to the north. Notable places within Alphabet City include Tompkins Square Park and
21894-489: The number of novels as of any other genre. In 1797, Thomas Wilson wrote in The Use of Circulating Libraries : "Consider that for a successful circulating library, the collection must contain 70% fiction". However, the overall percentage of novels mainly depended on the proprietor of the circulating library . While some circulating libraries were almost completely novels, others had less than 10% of their overall collection in
22072-696: The opening of two theatres: the Second Avenue Theatre , which opened in 1911 at 35–37 Second Avenue, and the National Theater , which opened in 1912 at 111–117 East Houston Street. This was followed by the opening of several other theaters, such as the Louis N. Jaffe Theater and the Public Theatre in 1926 and 1927 respectively. Numerous movie houses also opened in the East Side, including six on Second Avenue. By World War I
22250-524: The particular topics which Astor wished to have represented most thoroughly. The necessary detail extended to a catalog that must necessarily belong to the collection. This was agreeable to Astor. By May 1839, Astor had set aside a sum of $ 400,000 for a free public library. For books, $ 120,000 was allocated, and trustees were to be Washington Irving , William B. Astor , Daniel Lord, Jr. , James G. King , Joseph G. Cogswell , Fitz-Greene Halleck , Henry Brevoort, Jr. , Samuel B. Ruggles , Samuel Ward III , and
22428-430: The planning for the library into the hands of others, thus freeing himself from all care and trouble about it. Cogswell developed such a strategy, and Astor assented to it on the condition that Cogswell be in charge of buying books. Cogswell emphasized the necessity for complete planning for the proposed library, not merely for the building and other accommodations, but for the character of the library to be formed, and for
22606-426: The policies he had planned and prepared. The popular library and the scholar's library seemed to belong to two irreconcilable categories, though a generation later it was found that the two could co-exist peacefully under the same roof. The Astor Library suffered from its name. There was actually no proprietorship, and no question of family fiefdom. It was a free public library. But the public, though free to criticize,
22784-438: The popularity of the art galleries had revived the East Village's real estate market. One club that tried to resurrect the neighborhood's past artistic prominence was Mo Pitkins' House of Satisfaction, part-owned by comedian Jimmy Fallon before it closed in 2007. A Fordham University study, examining the decline of the East Village performance and art scene, stated that "the young, liberal culture that once found its place on
22962-409: The portions that would later become the East Village. By the late 18th century Lower Manhattan estate owners started having their lands surveyed to facilitate the future growth of Lower Manhattan into a street grid system. The Stuyvesant plot, surveyed in the 1780s or 1790s, was planned to be developed with a new grid around Stuyvesant Street , a street that ran compass west–east. This contrasted with
23140-484: The present-day concept of the public library, were extremely rare as most libraries remained difficult to access. The increase in secular literature at this time encouraged the spread of lending libraries, especially commercial subscription libraries . Commercial subscription libraries began when booksellers began renting out extra copies of books in the mid-18th century. Steven Fischer estimates that in 1790, there were "about six hundred rental and lending libraries, with
23318-463: The public library into the form that it is today. Public access to books is not new. Romans made scrolls in dry rooms available to patrons of the baths, and tried with some success to establish libraries within the empire . Public libraries existed in the Roman Empire by the 1st century BC. In the middle of the 19th century, the push for truly public libraries, paid for by taxes and run by
23496-467: The public. By 1879 the library had 189,114 volumes on its shelves. Space was lacking. Thus on December 5, 1879, John Jacob Astor III donated three lots of ground adjoining the northern side of the library's lot for an addition. The designer of this second addition was Thomas Stent. Both expansions followed Saelzer's original design so seamlessly that an observer cannot detect that the edifice was built in three stages. On October 10, 1881, this second addition
23674-464: The public. In 1790, The Public Library Act would not be passed for another sixty-seven years. Even though the British Museum existed at this time and contained over 50,000 books, the national library was not open to the public or even to most of the population. Access to the museum depended on passes, for which there was sometimes a waiting period of three to four weeks. Moreover, the library
23852-458: The railing to take down books for examination themselves. There was interest in evening hours, but the increased expense this would have entailed and the danger of fire from gas lighting prevented it. The books were classified using the system in Brunet's Manuel du Libraire which Cogswell thought the most complete and most generally known. "Everything goes on very smoothly among the habitués of
24030-410: The records of commercial transactions or inventories, mark the end of prehistory and the start of history . Things were very similar in the government and temple records on papyrus of Ancient Egypt . The earliest discovered private archives were kept at Ugarit ; besides correspondence and inventories, texts of myths may have been standardized practice-texts for teaching new scribes. Persia at
24208-402: The registers for the first twelve years provides glimpses of middle-class reading habits in a mercantile community at this period. The largest and most popular sections of the library were History, Antiquities, and Geography, with 283 titles and 6,121 borrowings, and Belles Lettres, with 238 titles and 3,313 borrowings. The most popular single work was John Hawkesworth's Account of Voyages ... in
24386-405: The regulations to which tenement buildings had to conform. The early 20th century marked the creation of apartment houses, office buildings, and other commercial or institutional structures on Second Avenue. After the widening of Second Avenue's roadbed in the early 1910s, many of the front stoops on that road were eliminated. The symbolic demise of the old fashionable district came in 1912 when
24564-401: The riot slowed down the gentrification process somewhat as real estate prices declined. By the end of the 20th century, however, real estate prices had resumed their rapid rise. About half of the East Village's stores had opened within the decade since the riot, while vacancy rates in that period had dropped from 20% to 3%, indicating that many of the longtime merchants had been pushed out. By
24742-463: The same time, making it more profitable for the circulating libraries. Much like paperbacks of today, many of the novels in circulating libraries were unbound. At this period of time, many people chose to bind their books in leather. Many circulating libraries skipped this process. Circulating libraries were not in the business of preserving books; their owners wanted to lend books as many times as they possibly could. Circulating libraries have ushered in
24920-403: The site of the old St. Nicholas Kirche . Until the mid-20th century the area was simply the northern part of the Lower East Side, with a similar culture of immigrant, working-class life. In the 1950s and 1960s the migration of Beatniks into the neighborhood later attracted hippies, musicians, writers, and artists who had been priced out of the rapidly gentrifying Greenwich Village . Among
25098-549: The sponsor for the project, and there was significant opposition to the plan, as it would have displaced thousands of people. Neither the original large-scale development nor a 1961 revised proposal were implemented and the city's government lost interest in performing such large-scale slum-clearance projects. Another redevelopment project that was completed was the Village View Houses on First Avenue between East 2nd and 6th Streets, which opened in 1964 partially on
25276-474: The state gained force. Matthew Battles states that: It was in these years of class conflict and economic terror that the public library movement swept through Britain, as the nation's progressive elite recognized that the light of cultural and intellectual energy was lacking in the lives of commoners. Public libraries were often started with a donation , or were bequeathed to parishes , churches, schools or towns. These social and institutional libraries formed
25454-458: The sums spent for books and binding being $ 6,245.06 and $ 24,074 respectively. Appreciation of the library as shown by statistics of readers grew slowly but steadily, the average number for the decade 1880–1889 being 59,000 readers per year, and for the next six years rising to 70,000. About the same result is indicated by the figures of volumes consulted, the number rising from 146,136 in 1880 to 167,584 in 1890 and to 225,477 in 1895. Also during 1880,
25632-577: The time of the Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BC) was home to some outstanding libraries that were serving two main functions: keeping the records of administrative documents (e.g., transactions, governmental orders, and budget allocation within and between the Satrapies and the central ruling State) and collection of resources on different sets of principles e.g. medical science, astronomy, history, geometry and philosophy. A public library
25810-540: The use and instruction of the working classes." There was also the Artizans' library established at Birmingham in 1799. The entrance fee was 3 shillings, and the subscription was 1 shilling 6 pence per quarter. This was a library of general literature. Novels, at first excluded, were afterwards admitted on condition that they did not account for more than one-tenth of the annual income. In 1835, and against government opposition, James Silk Buckingham , MP for Sheffield and
25988-402: The west–east streets in the 1820s. The Commissioners' Plan and resulting street grid was the catalyst for the northward expansion of the city, and for a short period, the portion of the Lower East Side that is now the East Village was one of the wealthiest residential neighborhoods in the city. Bond Street between the Bowery and Broadway, just west of the East Side within present-day NoHo ,
26166-478: The winter of 1848–1849, spending something over $ 20,000. The distracted political state of Europe at the time seemed to offer peculiar advantages for purchases at low rates. Before he sailed, Cogswell reported that during Astor's lifetime he had paid $ 2,500 for books. In 1851, Cogswell sailed abroad again. During that summer, he scoured France, Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark, Scandinavia and Germany. The result
26344-679: The world supported by taxes was the Peterborough Town Library in Peterborough, New Hampshire . It was "established in 1833". This was a small public library. The first large public library supported by taxes in the United States was the Boston Public Library , which was established in 1848 but did not open its doors to the public until 1854. East Village, Manhattan The East Village
26522-613: The young and adults. Public libraries typically allow users to borrow books and other materials outside the library premises temporarily, usually for a given period of time. They also have non-circulating reference collections and provide computer and Internet access to their patrons. The culmination of centuries of advances in the printing press , moveable type , paper , ink , publishing, and distribution, combined with an ever-growing information-oriented middle class , increased commercial activity and consumption, new radical ideas, massive population growth and higher literacy rates forged
26700-739: Was Robbins Little , a graduate of Yale . He retained the position as superintendent until 1896, after the 1895 consolidation. That the library was considered something more than a local institution was demonstrated in 1878 when the United States Sanitary Commission , having completed its task, donated its archives to the library for safe keeping. The archives consisted of all its correspondence, reports, account books, hospital directories, printed reports, histories, maps and charts, claims of some 51,000 soldiers and sailors investigated by it, miscellaneous papers, etc. The library promised that they would be preserved and accessible to
26878-400: Was $ 11,664.31, expenses $ 8,975.31. By 1868, those who had been most intimately connected with its founding had nearly all died. The character of the collection was fixed and was known throughout the United States. Schroeder served for 10 years, his resignation being accepted on June 7, 1871. His successor was Edward R. Straznicky , who had been employed in the library since 1859. The library
27056-459: Was a major reference and research resource, but there were detractors. An editorial in The New York Times complained, "Popular it certainly is not, and, so greatly is it lacking in the essentials of a public library, that its stores might almost as well be under lock and key, for any access the masses of the people can get thereto." An article in The Sun of March 4, 1873, reported problems with
27234-528: Was also unable to maintain them due to a lack of funds. Following the publication of a revised Cooper Square renewal plan in 1986, some properties were given to the Cooper Square Mutual Housing Association as part of a 1991 agreement. In spite of the deterioration of the structures within the East Village, its music and arts scenes were doing well. By the 1970s gay dance halls and punk rock clubs had started to open in
27412-408: Was also uncommon for these libraries to have buildings designated solely as the library building during the 1790s, though in the 19th century, many libraries would begin building elaborate permanent residences. Bristol, Birmingham, and Liverpool were the few libraries with their own building. The accommodations varied from the shelf for a few dozen volumes in the country stationer's or draper's shop, to
27590-529: Was an addition of 28,000 volumes secured for $ 30,000, bringing the total of the collection to about 55,000 or 60,000 volumes, and the total outlay to about $ 65,000. In November 1852, Cogswell was again authorized to travel to Europe, $ 25,000 being put at his disposal. He sailed early in December, and remained abroad until March, spending his time mainly in London, Paris, Brussels , Hamburg , and Berlin. The result
27768-478: Was appointed in his place. Cogswell still retained his place as a trustee. In 1862 W. B. Astor established an annuity fund of $ 5,000, yielding $ 300, payable to Cogswell in return for the bibliographical collection he had presented to the library. In 1864, Cogswell left New York to make his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts , and resigned as a trustee. A gift of $ 50,000 from W. B. Astor came in 1866, of which $ 20,000
27946-410: Was borne by John Jacob Astor III and amounted to nearly $ 40,000. With the publication complete, Nelson left the library in 1888. The card catalogs presented a problem of greater complexity. The 1876 card catalog begun by Brevoort recorded a part of the accessions received after 1866. There was one set of cards for the use of the public, and another duplicate set for official use. This was at first mainly
28124-409: Was chosen for the institution at the second meeting on June 1. On September 28, a location was finalized for the building, in what is now the East Village, Manhattan . There it was judged to be tranquil enough to be suitable for study. The lot was valued at $ 25,000, which sum was deducted from the $ 400,000 of the endowment. On January 18, 1849, the library was incorporated, and received a paragraph in
28302-541: Was considered the most upscale street address in the city by the 1830s, with structures such as the Greek Revival -style Colonnade Row and Federal -style rowhouses . The neighborhood's prestigious nature could be attributed to several factors, including a rise in commerce and population following the Erie Canal 's opening in the 1820s. Following the grading of the streets, development of rowhouses came to
28480-659: Was established in 1608 (six years after Thomas Bodley founded the Bodleian Library , which was open to the "whole republic of the learned") and Chetham's Library in Manchester, which claims to be the oldest public library in the English-speaking world, opened in 1653. Biblioteca Palafoxiana in Puebla City , Mexico, is recognized by UNESCO for being the first public library in the Americas . It
28658-683: Was established in Rome by the first century BC, in the Atrium Libertatis (see History of libraries § Classical period and Gaius Asinius Pollio § Later life ). However, the first major public library is said to have been established in Athens by Pisistratus in the sixth century BC (see Library of Alexandria § Historical background ), and by the end of the Hellenistic period , public libraries are said to have been widespread in
28836-665: Was founded in 1646 by Juan de Palafox y Mendoza . In his seminal work Advis pour dresser une bibliothèque (1644) the French scholar and librarian Gabriel Naudé asserted that only three libraries in all Europe granted in his times regular access to every scholar, namely the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan, the Biblioteca Angelica in Rome, and the Bodleian Library in Oxford. Claude Sallier ,
29014-468: Was free for all persons over 14 years of age. On opening day, the building was stocked with between 80,000 and 90,000 volumes, purchased at a cost of about $ 100,000. The section on American history was as full as possible. In linguistics , particularly oriental, the library was unsurpassed by any in the United States. The natural sciences were also fully represented, comprising about 7,000 volumes. Cogswell had made his first trip abroad for purchase of books in
29192-502: Was in his 70s and had been retired for about 10 years. As the richest citizen of the United States, German-born Astor was considering what sort of testimonial he should leave to his adopted country. Early in January 1838, Astor consulted Cogswell about the use of some $ 300,000–$ 400,000, which he intended to leave for public purposes. Cogswell urged him to use it for a library, which Astor agreed to. A public announcement of Astor's plan for
29370-406: Was left to the library. As William Waldorf Astor declined to fill the vacancy, the board ceased to have an Astor on it. At the time of consolidation the trustees, in order of seniority, were Markoe, Henry Drisler , John Lambert Cadwalader , Henry C. Potter , Stephen Van Rensselaer Cruger, Little, Stephen Henry Olin, King, Charles Howland Russell and Philip Schuyler. The 1895 consolidation marked
29548-572: Was located adjacent to Tompkins Square Park , located between 7th and 10th Streets from Avenue A to Avenue B, designated the same year. Though the park was not in the original Commissioners' Plan of 1811, part of the land from 7th to 10th Streets east of First Avenue had been set aside for a marketplace that was ultimately never built. Rowhouses up to three stories were built on the side streets by such developers as Elisha Peck and Anson Green Phelps ; Ephraim H. Wentworth ; and Christopher S. Hubbard and Henry H. Casey . Mansions were also built on
29726-511: Was made for a library to be erected in the house of the Kalendars. A reference is made to a deed of that date by which it was "appointed that all who wish to enter for the sake of instruction shall have 'free access and recess' at certain times." In 1598, Francis Trigge established a library in a room above St. Wulfram's Church in Grantham, Lincolnshire and decreed that it should be open to
29904-552: Was not open for browsing. Once a pass to the library had been issued, the reader was taken on a tour of the library. Many readers complained that the tour was much too short. Similarly, the Bibliothèque du Roi in Paris required a potential visitor to be "carefully screened" and, even after this stipulation was met, the library was open only two days per week and only to view medallions and engravings, not books. However, up until
30082-481: Was once referred to as Manhattan 's Little Germany – and was considered part of the nearby Lower East Side . By the late 1960s, many artists, musicians, students and hippies began to move into the area, and the East Village was given its own identity. Since at least the 2000s, gentrification has changed the character of the neighborhood. The East Village is part of Manhattan Community District 3 , and its primary ZIP Codes are 10003 and 10009. It
30260-616: Was open to the public and was the first Polish public library, the biggest in Poland, and one of the earliest public libraries in Europe. At the start of the 18th century, libraries were becoming increasingly public and were more frequently lending libraries . The 18th century saw the switch from closed parochial libraries to lending libraries. Before this time, public libraries were parochial in nature, and libraries frequently chained their books to desks. Libraries also were not uniformly open to
30438-567: Was open to the public, the library being closed the four months preceding to allow the necessary moving and readjustment. During 1879 the Japanese government presented a representation of their national literature, embracing the standard works of poetry , fiction , geography , history , religion , philology , together with an assortment of ornamental designs; through Viscount Cranbrook , secretary for India in Beaconsfield's cabinet,
30616-684: Was reluctant to contribute towards its support. That was left to the Astors. The NYPL abandoned the building in 1911, and the books were moved to the NYPL's newly constructed building by Bryant Park. In 1920, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society purchased it. By 1965 it was in disuse and faced demolition. The Public Theater (then the New York Shakespeare Festival) persuaded the city to purchase it for use as
30794-583: Was selected as the architect for the building. He designed the building in Rundbogenstil style, then the prevailing style for public building in Germany. The limitation of the cost of the building at $ 75,000 was stringent: the trustees wanted a building to hold 100,000 volumes at the outset, to afford convenient accommodation for annual additions, to be fireproof, and have the necessary strength; these requirements were by no means easily secured for this sum. W. B. Astor, Cogswell, and Saeltzer drew up specifications and called for bids for construction. All bids exceeded
30972-486: Was the addition of about 25,000 volumes. The Astor Library's policy of being universally free, to foreigners as well as to United States citizens, also allowed it to successfully apply for donations of important and costly scientific, statistical and historical works published by different governments of Europe. A very practical appreciation of the library was shown by donations received from the federal government, from learned societies and from individuals in various parts of
31150-437: Was the eleventh library to open, in 1857, after Winchester , Manchester , Liverpool , Bolton , Kidderminster , Cambridge , Birkenhead and Sheffield . The 1850 Act was noteworthy because it established the principle of free public libraries. In 1866, an amending Act was passed which eliminated the population limit for the establishment of a library and replaced the two-thirds majority previously required for adoption with
31328-401: Was to become one of "the two great avenues for elegant residences" in Manhattan, the other being Fifth Avenue . Two marble cemeteries were also built on the East Side: the New York City Marble Cemetery , built in 1831 on 2nd Street between First and Second Avenues, and the New York Marble Cemetery , built in 1830 within the backlots of the block to the west. Following the rapid growth of
31506-419: Was unrecorded in a catalog except in the shape of brief entries noted in manuscript in interleaved copies of the Cogswell catalog, and cards begun by Brevoort in 1876. A new author catalog was decided on, to include titles of all works received since the first catalog was published, and for this work Charles Alexander Nelson was hired in 1881. Nelson was a Harvard graduate fitted for this new task by service in
31684-530: Was used for purchase of books, the remainder was for the general funds of the library. This gift brought the sum total presented by him to $ 300,000, not to mention the installation of a new system of heating apparatus in 1867 for which he paid $ 6,545.74. Of the $ 700,000 received from the Astors, father and son (increased about two per cent, by investments, etc.) $ 283,324.98 was expended for site, building, and equipment; $ 203,012.38 for books, binding, freight, etc., leaving an endowment fund of $ 229,000. The income in 1866
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