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98-874: The Library Company of Philadelphia (LCP) 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

196-404: A Georgian Revival set of buildings designed by Cope and Stewardson at 1631 and 1633 Locust Streets, a Frank Miles Day -designed Medieval mansion at 17th and Locust Streets, and several John Notman -designed houses and St. Mark’s Church on the 1600 block of Locust Street. Since the 18th century, Locust Street has been the residence of several prominent Americans. Between 1838 and 1844,

294-414: 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

392-517: A cash crop. In 1632, King Charles I granted the charter for the Province of Maryland to Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore . Calvert's father had been a prominent Catholic official who encouraged Catholic immigration to the English colonies. The charter offered no guidelines on religion. The Province of Carolina was the second attempted English settlement south of Virginia, the first being

490-594: 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

588-536: A part of Massachusetts until achieving statehood in 1820. In 1685, King James II of England closed the legislatures and consolidated the New England colonies into the Dominion of New England , putting the region under the control of Governor Edmund Andros . In 1688, the colonies of New York, West Jersey, and East Jersey were added to the dominion. Andros was overthrown and the dominion was closed in 1689, after

686-436: 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

784-648: A proprietary colony of Quaker William Penn . The main population elements included the Quaker population based in Philadelphia, a Scotch-Irish population on the Western frontier, and numerous German colonies in between. Philadelphia became the largest city in the colonies with its central location, excellent port, and a population of about 30,000. The Pilgrims were a small group of Puritan separatists who felt that they needed to distance themselves physically from

882-452: 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,

980-500: A settlement near Providence Plantations which they called Shawomet. However, Massachusetts Bay attempted to seize the land and put it under their own authority, so Gorton travelled to London to gain a charter from the King. Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick assisted him in gaining the charter, so he changed the name of the settlement to Warwick. Roger Williams secured a Royal Charter from the King in 1663 which united all four settlements into

1078-714: 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

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1176-466: A three-story Greek Revival mansion at 13th and Locust Streets from 1836 until his death in 1881. In 1856, the first Republican nominating convention for president and vice president was held at Musical Fund Hall at 808 Locust Street. On December 9, 1981, at 3:55am, Philadelphia Police Department officer Daniel Faulkner conducted a traffic stop of a vehicle carrying Marxist political activist Mumia Abu-Jamal 's younger brother William Cook at

1274-659: A war that served European interests more than their own. This dispute was a link in the chain of events that soon brought about the American Revolution. The British were left with large debts following the French and Indian War, so British leaders decided to increase taxation and control of the Thirteen Colonies. They imposed several new taxes, beginning with the Sugar Act of 1764. Later acts included

1372-522: 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

1470-446: Is a major historic street in Center City Philadelphia . The street is the location of several prominent Philadelphia -based buildings, historic sights, and high-rise residential locations. It is an east–west street throughout Center City Philadelphia and runs largely parallel to Chestnut Street , another major Center City Philadelphia street. Locust Street is one of several Philadelphia streets bordering Rittenhouse Square , one of

1568-414: 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

1666-491: The Appalachian Mountains , as this was designated an Indian Reserve . Some groups of settlers disregarded the proclamation, however, and continued to move west and establish farms. The proclamation was modified and was no longer a hindrance to settlement, but the fact angered the colonists that it had been promulgated without their prior consultation. Parliament had directly levied duties and excise taxes on

1764-582: The Boston Tea Party in 1773 when the Sons of Liberty dumped thousands of pounds of tea into the water. Tensions escalated in 1774 as Parliament passed the laws known as the Intolerable Acts , which greatly restricted self-government in the colony of Massachusetts. These laws also allowed British military commanders to claim colonial homes for the quartering of soldiers, regardless of whether

1862-536: The Caribbean , and what is today Canada . The Thirteen Colonies were separate entities under the Crown, but had similar political, constitutional, and legal systems, and each was dominated by Protestant English-speakers. The first of the colonies, Virginia, was established at Jamestown , in 1607. The New England Colonies, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, were substantially motivated by their founders' concerns related to

1960-534: The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations . Other colonists settled to the north, mingling with adventurers and profit-oriented settlers to establish more religiously diverse colonies in New Hampshire and Maine . Massachusetts absorbed these small settlements when it made significant land claims in the 1640s and 1650s, but New Hampshire was eventually given a separate charter in 1679. Maine remained

2058-691: The Currency Act of 1764 , the Stamp Act of 1765 , and the Townshend Acts of 1767. Colonial newspapers and printers in particular took strong exception against the Stamp Act which imposed a tax on newspapers and official documents, and played a central role in disseminating literature among the colonists against such taxes and the idea of taxation without colonial representation. The Royal Proclamation of 1763 restricted settlement west of

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2156-735: 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

2254-715: The Glorious Revolution deposed King James II; the former colonies were re-established. According to Guy Miller, the Rebellion of 1689 was the "climax of the 60-year-old struggle between the government in England and the Puritans of Massachusetts over the question of who was to rule the Bay colony." In 1702, East and West Jersey were combined to form the Province of New Jersey . The northern and southern sections of

2352-459: 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

2450-596: The New England Confederation in 1643, and all New England colonies were included in the Dominion of New England (1686–1689). The Province of Carolina was initially chartered in 1629 and initial settlements were established after 1651. That charter was voided in 1660 by Charles II and a new charter was issued in 1663, making it a proprietary colony. The Carolina province was divided into separate proprietary colonies, north and south in 1712, before both became royal colonies in 1729. Earlier, along

2548-574: The New Haven , Saybrook , and Connecticut colonies. During the 17th century, the New Haven and Saybrook colonies were absorbed by Connecticut. Roger Williams established Providence Plantations in 1636 on land provided by Narragansett sachem Canonicus . Williams was a Puritan who preached religious tolerance, separation of Church and State , and a complete break with the Church of England. He

2646-777: The Plymouth Company and the London Company for the purpose of establishing permanent settlements in America. The London Company established the Colony of Virginia in 1607, the first permanently settled English colony on the continent. The Plymouth Company founded the Popham Colony on the Kennebec River , but it was short-lived. The Plymouth Council for New England sponsored several colonization projects, culminating with Plymouth Colony in 1620 which

2744-910: The Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia , after armed conflict had broken out in April, they appointed George Washington as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army to fight the American Revolutionary War . In 1776, Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence as the United States of America and, asserting its sovereignty, the United States allied with Britain's enemy, France. Defeating British armies with its French ally,

2842-612: The War of the Austrian Succession , but most colonists called it King George's War . In 1745, British and colonial forces captured the town of Louisbourg , and the war came to an end with the 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle . However, many colonists were angered when Britain returned Louisbourg to France in return for Madras and other territories. In the aftermath of the war, both the British and French sought to expand into

2940-415: The 13 colonies. During the 1750s, the colonies began collaborating with one another instead of dealing directly with Britain. With the help of colonial printers and newspapers , these inter-colonial activities and concerns were shared and led to calls for protection of the colonists' " Rights as Englishmen ", especially the principle of " no taxation without representation ". Late 18th century conflicts with

3038-542: The 1740s, the Thirteen Colonies underwent the First Great Awakening . In 1738, an incident involving a Welsh mariner named Robert Jenkins sparked the War of Jenkins' Ear between Britain and Spain. Hundreds of North Americans volunteered for Admiral Edward Vernon 's assault on Cartagena de Indias , a Spanish city in South America. The war against Spain merged into a broader conflict known as

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3136-536: The 1754 Albany Congress , Pennsylvania colonist Benjamin Franklin proposed the Albany Plan which would have created a unified government of the Thirteen Colonies for coordination of defense and other matters, but the plan was rejected by the leaders of most colonies. In the Treaty of Paris (1763) , France formally ceded to Britain the eastern part of its vast North American empire, having secretly given to Spain

3234-612: 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

3332-546: The American civilians were willing or not to have soldiers in their homes. The laws further revoked colonial rights to hold trials in cases involving soldiers or crown officials, forcing such trials to be held in England rather than in America. Parliament also sent Thomas Gage to serve as Governor of Massachusetts and as the commander of British forces in North America. By 1774, colonists still hoped to remain part of

3430-566: The Atlantic coast supplied the Atlantic market with beaver fur and deerskins. America had an advantage in natural resources and established its own thriving shipbuilding industry, and many American merchants engaged in the transatlantic trade. Improved economic conditions and easing of religious persecution in Europe made it more difficult to recruit labor to the colonies, and many colonies became increasingly reliant on slave labor, particularly in

3528-764: The British Empire, but discontentment was widespread concerning British rule throughout the Thirteen Colonies. Colonists elected delegates to the First Continental Congress , which convened in Philadelphia in September 1774. In the aftermath of the Intolerable Acts, the delegates asserted that the colonies owed allegiance only to the king; they would accept royal governors as agents of the king, but they were no longer willing to recognize Parliament's right to pass legislation affecting

3626-535: The British force at the April 1775 Battles of Lexington and Concord , then lay siege to Boston . By spring 1775, all royal officials had been expelled, and the Continental Congress hosted a convention of delegates for the Thirteen Colonies. It raised an army to fight the British and named George Washington its commander, made treaties, declared independence, and recommended that the colonies write constitutions and become states, later enumerated in

3724-727: The British government over taxes and rights led to the American Revolution , in which the Thirteen Colonies joined together for the first time to form the Continental Congress and raised the Continental Army , declaring independence in 1776. They fought the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) with the aid of the Kingdom of France and, to a much lesser degree, the Dutch Republic and the Kingdom of Spain . In 1606, King James I of England granted charters to both

3822-475: The Carolina colony operated more or less independently until 1691 when Philip Ludwell was appointed governor of the entire province. From that time until 1708, the northern and southern settlements remained under one government. However, during this period, the two halves of the province began increasingly to be known as North Carolina and South Carolina, as the descendants of the colony's proprietors fought over

3920-618: The Church of England, which they perceived as corrupted. They initially moved to the Netherlands, but eventually sailed to America in 1620 on the Mayflower . Upon their arrival, they drew up the Mayflower Compact , by which they bound themselves together as a united community, thus establishing the small Plymouth Colony . William Bradford was their main leader. After its founding, other settlers traveled from England to join

4018-569: The English population migrated to America after 1700, but the colonies attracted new immigrants from other European countries. These immigrants traveled to all of the colonies, but the Middle Colonies attracted the most and continued to be more ethnically diverse than the other colonies. Numerous settlers immigrated from Ireland, both Catholic and Protestant—particularly " New Light " Ulster Presbyterians . Protestant Germans also immigrated in large numbers, particularly to Pennsylvania. In

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4116-568: 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

4214-658: The Great Lakes and Ohio valley. The French and Indian War took on a new significance for the British North American colonists when William Pitt the Elder decided that major military resources needed to be devoted to North America in order to win the war against France. For the first time, the continent became one of the main theaters of what could be termed a world war . During the war, it became increasingly apparent to American colonists that they were under

4312-403: 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,

4410-521: The Lords combined their remaining capital and financed a settlement mission to the area led by Sir John Colleton . The expedition located fertile and defensible ground at Charleston , originally Charles Town for Charles II of England . Beginning in 1609, Dutch traders established fur trading posts on the Hudson River , Delaware River , and Connecticut River , seeking to protect their interests in

4508-576: The Ohio River valley. The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was the American extension of the general European conflict known as the Seven Years' War . Previous colonial wars in North America had started in Europe and then spread to the colonies, but the French and Indian War is notable for having started in North America and spread to Europe. One of the primary causes of the war was increasing competition between Britain and France, especially in

4606-478: The South. The population of slaves in America grew dramatically between 1680 and 1750, and the growth was driven by a mixture of forced immigration and the reproduction of slaves. Slaves supported vast plantation economies in the South, while slaves in the North worked in a variety of occupations. There were a few local attempted slave revolts, such as the Stono Rebellion and the New York Conspiracy of 1741 , but these uprisings were suppressed. A small proportion of

4704-413: The area south of the Carolinas be colonized with the "worthy poor" of England to provide an alternative to the overcrowded debtors' prisons. Oglethorpe and other English philanthropists secured a royal charter as the Trustees of the colony of Georgia on June 9, 1732. Oglethorpe and his compatriots hoped to establish a utopian colony that banned slavery and recruited only the most worthy settlers, but by 1750

4802-400: The authority of the British Empire , as British military and civilian officials took on an increased presence in their lives. The war also increased a sense of American unity in other ways. It caused men to travel across the continent who might otherwise have never left their own colony, fighting alongside men from decidedly different backgrounds who were nonetheless still American. Throughout

4900-432: The base for extensive trade with the English colonies, and many products from New England and Virginia were carried to Europe on Dutch ships. The Dutch also engaged in the burgeoning Atlantic slave trade , bringing some enslaved Africans to the English colonies in North America, although many more were sent to Barbados and Brazil. The West India Company desired to grow New Netherland as it became commercially successful, yet

4998-424: The cities of Philadelphia, New York, and Boston had a population of more than 16,000, which was small by European standards. By 1770, the economic output of the Thirteen Colonies made up forty percent of the gross domestic product of the entire British Empire. As the 18th century progressed, colonists began to settle far from the Atlantic coast. Pennsylvania, Virginia, Connecticut, and Maryland all laid claim to

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5096-478: 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

5194-528: The coast, the Roanoke Colony was established in 1585, re-established in 1587, and found abandoned in 1590. The first British colony was Jamestown , established on May 14, 1607 near Chesapeake Bay . The business venture was financed and coordinated by the London Virginia Company , a joint-stock company looking for gold. Its first years were extremely difficult, with very high death rates from disease and starvation, wars with local Indians, and little gold. The colony survived and flourished by turning to tobacco as

5292-417: The colonies formed bodies of elected representatives known as Provincial Congresses , and colonists began to boycott imported British merchandise. Later in 1774, 12 colonies sent representatives to the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia . During the Second Continental Congress , the remaining colony of Georgia sent delegates as well. Massachusetts Governor Thomas Gage feared a confrontation with

5390-427: The colonies of East and West Florida . In removing a major foreign threat to the thirteen colonies, the war also largely removed the colonists' need for colonial protection. The British and colonists triumphed jointly over a common foe. The colonists' loyalty to the mother country was stronger than ever before. However, disunity was beginning to form. British Prime Minister William Pitt the Elder had decided to wage

5488-485: The colonies, bypassing the colonial legislatures, and Americans began to insist on the principle of " no taxation without representation " with intense protests over the Stamp Act of 1765 . They argued that the colonies had no representation in the British Parliament, so it was a violation of their rights as Englishmen for taxes to be imposed upon them. Parliament rejected the colonial protests and asserted its authority by passing new taxes. Colonial discontentment grew with

5586-455: The colonies. In the 18th century, the British government operated under a policy of mercantilism , in which the central government administered its colonies for Britain's economic benefit. The 13 colonies had a degree of self-governance and active local elections , and they resisted London's demands for more control over them. The French and Indian War (1754–1763) against France and its Indian allies led to growing tensions between Britain and

5684-424: The colonies. Most delegates opposed an attack on the British position in Boston, and the Continental Congress instead agreed to the imposition of a boycott known as the Continental Association . The boycott proved effective and the value of British imports dropped dramatically. The Thirteen Colonies became increasingly divided between Patriots opposed to British rule and Loyalists who supported it. In response,

5782-402: The colonists; he requested reinforcements from Britain, but the British government was not willing to pay for the expense of stationing tens of thousands of soldiers in the Thirteen Colonies. Gage was instead ordered to seize Patriot arsenals. He dispatched a force to march on the arsenal at Concord, Massachusetts , but the Patriots learned about it and blocked their advance. The Patriots repulsed

5880-437: The colony failed to attract the same level of settlement as the English colonies did. Many of those who did immigrate to the colony were English, German, Walloon , or Sephardim . In 1638, Sweden established the colony of New Sweden in the Delaware Valley . The operation was led by former members of the Dutch West India Company, including Peter Minuit. New Sweden established extensive trading contacts with English colonies to

5978-474: The colony remained sparsely populated. The proprietors gave up their charter in 1752, at which point Georgia became a crown colony. The population of the Thirteen Colonies grew immensely in the 18th century. According to historian Alan Taylor , the population was 1.5 million in 1750, which represented four-fifths of the population of British North America . More than 90 percent of the colonists lived as farmers, though some seaports also flourished. In 1760,

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6076-407: The colony, dominating the rural areas between Manhattan and Albany, while people from New England started moving in as well as immigrants from Germany. New York City attracted a large polyglot population, including a large black slave population. In 1674, the proprietary colonies of East Jersey and West Jersey were created from lands formerly part of New York. Pennsylvania was founded in 1681 as

6174-458: The colony. More Puritans immigrated in 1629 and established the Massachusetts Bay Colony with 400 settlers. They sought to reform the Church of England by creating a new, ideologically pure church in the New World. By 1640, 20,000 had arrived ; many died soon after arrival, but the others found a healthy climate and an ample food supply. The Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies together spawned other Puritan colonies in New England, including

6272-458: The context of the American Revolution . In London, beginning in 1660, all colonies were governed through a state department known as the Southern Department , and a committee of the Privy Council called the Board of Trade and Plantations . In 1768, a specific state department was created for America, but it was disbanded in 1782 when the Home Office took responsibility. Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut, and New Haven Colonies formed

6370-608: 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

6468-457: The course of the war, British officers trained Americans for battle, most notably George Washington , which benefited the American cause during the Revolution. Also, colonial legislatures and officials had to cooperate intensively in pursuit of the continent-wide military effort. The relations were not always positive between the British military establishment and the colonists, setting the stage for later distrust and dislike of British troops. At

6566-474: 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

6664-507: 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

6762-447: The direction of the colony. The colonists of Charles Town finally deposed their governor and elected their own government. This marked the start of separate governments in the Province of North-Carolina and the Province of South Carolina . In 1729, the king formally revoked Carolina's colonial charter and established both North Carolina and South Carolina as crown colonies. In the 1730s, Parliamentarian James Oglethorpe proposed that

6860-401: The failed attempt at Roanoke . It was a private venture, financed by a group of English Lords Proprietors who obtained a Royal Charter to the Carolinas in 1663, hoping that a new colony in the south would become profitable like Jamestown. Carolina was not settled until 1670, and even then the first attempt failed because there was no incentive for emigration to that area. Eventually, however,

6958-401: The famed author and poet Edgar Allan Poe lived at four different locations in Philadelphia, including one residence at 16th and Locust Streets. While in Philadelphia, Poe authored 31 stories, including " The Murders in the Rue Morgue " in 1841 and " The Gold-Bug " and " The Tell-Tale Heart ", both in 1843. Robert Patterson , a Union Army general during the American Civil War , resided at

7056-413: 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

7154-539: The five original parks established by the city's founder, William Penn . Locust Street is now a hybrid of commercial and residential buildings. It historically was exclusively a residential street with mansions and home to many of the city's most affluent residents. The street includes historical building structures designed by some of the Gilded Age 's preeminent architects, including a Horace Trumbauer -designed Beaux-Arts limestone building at 1629 Locust Street,

7252-809: The former Thirteen Colonies had its sovereignty recognized by Britain in the Treaty of Paris in 1783. The Thirteen Colonies in their traditional groupings were: the New England Colonies ( New Hampshire , Massachusetts , Rhode Island , and Connecticut ); the Middle Colonies ( New York , New Jersey , Pennsylvania , and Delaware ); and the Southern Colonies ( Maryland , Virginia , North Carolina , South Carolina , and Georgia ). These colonies were part of British America , which also included territory in The Floridas ,

7350-646: The fur trade. The Dutch West India Company established permanent settlements on the Hudson River, creating the Dutch colony of New Netherland . In 1626, Peter Minuit purchased the island of Manhattan from the Lenape Indians and established the outpost of New Amsterdam . Relatively few Dutch settled in New Netherland, but the colony came to dominate the regional fur trade. It also served as

7448-523: The global British trading network, as the value tripled for exports from America to Britain between 1700 and 1754. The colonists were restricted in trading with other European powers, but they found profitable trade partners in the other British colonies, particularly in the Caribbean. The colonists traded foodstuffs, wood, tobacco, and various other resources for Asian tea, West Indian coffee, and West Indian sugar, among other items. American Indians far from

7546-479: The intersection of 13th and Locust Streets. During the stop, Faulkner and Cook became engaged in a physical confrontation. Driving his cab in the vicinity, Abu-Jamal observed the altercation, parked, and ran across the street toward Cook's car. Faulkner was shot in the back and face. He shot Abu-Jamal in the stomach. Faulkner died at the scene from the gunshot to his head, and Abu-Jamal was treated for his wounds at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital , recovered, and

7644-591: The land in the Ohio River valley. The colonies engaged in a scramble to purchase land from Indian tribes, as the British insisted that claims to land should rest on legitimate purchases. Virginia was particularly intent on western expansion, and most of the elite Virginia families invested in the Ohio Company to promote the settlement of the Ohio Country . The British American colonies became part of

7742-538: The location of several major Philadelphia -based non-profit and historical organizations, including: PATCO Speedline operates three subway station on Locust Street: Thirteen Colonies The Thirteen Colonies were a group of British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America during the 17th and 18th centuries. Grievances against the imperial government led the 13 colonies to begin uniting in 1774, and expelling British officials by 1775. Assembled at

7840-509: 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,

7938-592: 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

8036-526: The passage of the 1773 Tea Act , which reduced taxes on tea sold by the East India Company in an effort to undercut the competition, and Prime Minister North's ministry hoped that this would establish a precedent of colonists accepting British taxation policies. Trouble escalated over the tea tax, as Americans in each colony boycotted the tea, and those in Boston dumped the tea in the harbor during

8134-413: The practice of religion. The other colonies were founded for business and economic expansion. The Middle Colonies were established on the former Dutch colony of New Netherland . Between 1625 and 1775, the colonial population grew from 2 thousand to 2.4 million, largely displacing the region's Native Americans . The population included people subject to a system of slavery , which was legal in all of

8232-617: The remainder of New Netherland. The 1667 Treaty of Breda ended the Second Anglo-Dutch War and confirmed English control of the region. The Dutch briefly regained control of parts of New Netherland in the Third Anglo-Dutch War but surrendered claim to the territory in the 1674 Treaty of Westminster , ending the Dutch colonial presence in America. The British renamed the colony of New Amsterdam to "York City" or "New York". Large numbers of Dutch remained in

8330-549: 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

8428-502: 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 Locust Street Locust Street

8526-530: The south and shipped much of the tobacco produced in Virginia. The colony was conquered by the Dutch in 1655, while Sweden was engaged in the Second Northern War . Beginning in the 1650s, the English and Dutch engaged in a series of wars , and the English sought to conquer New Netherland. Richard Nicolls captured the lightly defended New Amsterdam in 1664, and his subordinates quickly captured

8624-547: The territory of Louisiana west of the Mississippi River the previous year. Before the war, Britain held the thirteen American colonies, most of present-day Nova Scotia , and most of the Hudson Bay watershed. Following the war, Britain gained all French territory east of the Mississippi River, including Quebec, the Great Lakes, and the Ohio River valley. Britain also gained Spanish Florida , from which it formed

8722-410: 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

8820-431: The war in the colonies with the use of troops from the colonies and tax funds from Britain itself. This was a successful wartime strategy but, after the war was over, each side believed that it had borne a greater burden than the other. The British elite, the most heavily taxed of any in Europe, pointed out angrily that the colonists paid little to the royal coffers. The colonists replied that their sons had fought and died in

8918-415: 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

9016-446: 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

9114-485: Was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony over theological disagreements; he founded the settlement based on an egalitarian constitution, providing for majority rule "in civil things" and "liberty of conscience" in religious matters. In 1637, a second group including Anne Hutchinson established a second settlement on Rhode Island , today called Aquidneck. Samuel Gorton and others established

9212-449: Was charged with first-degree murder of Faulkner. In May 1983, Abu-Jamal was convicted and sentenced to death in May 1983. The death sentence was later dropped, but Abu-Jamal's conviction became a global controversy and subject of extensive attention in popular culture , including four documentaries, multiple books, and multiple songs and references in contemporary music. Locust Street is

9310-697: 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

9408-456: Was settled by English Puritan separatists, known today as the Pilgrims . The Dutch, Swedish, and French also established successful American colonies at roughly the same time as the English, but they eventually came under the English crown. The Thirteen Colonies were complete with the establishment of the Province of Georgia in 1732, although the term "Thirteen Colonies" became current only in

9506-422: 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

9604-677: 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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