List of libraries in 19th-century Philadelphia explained

The following is a list of libraries located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, active in the 19th century. Included are public libraries, academic libraries, medical libraries, church libraries, government libraries, circulating libraries, and subscription libraries.

A

• Academy of Natural Sciences
• Agnes Irwin's School
• Almshouse library
• American Baptist Historical Society
• American Baptist Publication Society
• American Catholic Historical Society
• American Entomological Society
• American Institute of Architects, Philadelphia Chapter
• American Philosophical Society (est. 1743).
• American Sunday-School Union
• Apprentices' Library Company
• Athenaeum of Philadelphia

B

• Baptist Historical Society
• George E. Blake's circulating library
• Board of Missions of Presbyterian Church
• Boarding and Day School for Young Ladies
• Broad Street Academy Library
• Brotherhead's Circulating Library^[1]
• Burd Orphan Asylum
• Byberry Library

C

• Carpenters' Company
• Catholic Philopatrian Society
• Central High School
• Chalk's Circulating Library, North Third St.
• Challen's Circulating Library
• Chase's Circulating Library
• Chestnut Hill Free Library
• Chestnut St. Female Seminary
• Christ Church Hospital
• Christ Church Library
• Christian Hall Library Company
• Church of the Holy Apostle, Sunday School Library
• College Avenue Anat. School
• College of Physicians of Philadelphia
• College of St. Thomas of Villa Nova
• Colored Reading Society^[2]
• Controllers of Public Schools Library
• Edward Corfield's circulating library^[3]

D

• Disston Library
• Drexel Institute Library (est.1891)

E

• Eastburn Academy Library
• Eastern State Penitentiary
• Eclectic Medical College
• Edwin Forrest Home
• Engineers Club
• Episcopal Library and Reading Room

F

• Female Medical College
• Florence Lit. Inst. and Library
• Franklin Institute
• Franklin Library Association
• Free Circulating Library for the Blind
• Free Library of Philadelphia (est.1891, opened 1894). Main branch located in City Hall (1894), then in Concert Hall (1895–1910)
  • College Settlement branch
  • Evening Home branch
  • West Philadelphia branch^[4]
• Free Reading-Room Association of Spring Garden
• Friends' Asylum for the Insane
• Friends' Library
• Friends' Observatory

G

• George Institute
• German Society of Pennsylvania^[5]
• Germantown Library
• Girard College
• Paul Girard's French Circulating Library
• Girl's Normal School Library
• Grand Army Republic, Post No.2
• Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania F.A.A.M.
• D. Guillemet's French Circulating Library

H

• Hahnemann Medical College^[6]
• Harwood's Circulating Library
• Hebrew Literature Society
• Historical Society of Pennsylvania
• Home Teaching and Free Circulating Library for the Blind
• Homoeopathic Medical College
• House of Refuge
• Hirst Free Law Library^{[7] [8]}

I

• Institute for Colored Youth
• Institution for the Blind
• Institution for Deaf and Dumb
• Irish Library of the Cathedral

J

• James Page Library Company
• Jefferson Medical College

K

• Kensington Literary Institute (est.1853)

L

• La Salle College
• Law Association of Philadelphia
• Leopold's Circulating Library
• Library and Reading Room Association of 23rd Ward (est.1857)
• Library Association of Friends
• Library Company of Colored Persons
• Library Company of Philadelphia (est. 1731), also called the Philadelphia Library
  • Ridgway Branch^[9]
• Library of Foreign Classical Literature and Science
• Library of the Four Monthly Meetings of Friends
• Lovett Memorial Free Library

M

• Mantua Academy
• Mariners' Church Library for Seamen
• Sarah McDonald's circulating library, S. 11th St.
• Mechanics' Institute of Southwark
• Medical Institute of Philadelphia
• Medico-Chirurgical College
• Memorial Free Library (Mount Airy)
• Mercantile Library Company
• Ann Miller's circulating library
• Moyamensing Literary Institute (est.1852)
• Mutual Library Co.^[10]

N

• New Church Book Association
• North Broad Street Select School
• Northern Dispensary of Philadelphia
• Northern Home
• Northern Liberties Franklin Library
• Northern Liberties Library and Reading Room Co. (est.1830)
• Numismatic and Antiquarian Society

O

• Odd Fellows' Library

P

• Page Library
• Peirce College of Business
• Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
• Pennsylvania College, Medical Dept.
• Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery
• Pennsylvania Horticultural Society
• Pennsylvania Hospital Medical Library
• Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane
• Pennsylvania Institution for Deaf and Dumb
• Pennsylvania Seamen's Friend Society
• Philadelphia Board of Trade
• Philadelphia City Institute
• The Philadelphia Club Library
• Philadelphia College of Dental Surgery
• Philadelphia College of Medicine
• Philadelphia College of Pharmacy
• Philadelphia County Prison
• Philadelphia Divinity School
• Philadelphia Hospital Library
• Philadelphia Library Association of Colored Brethren
• Philadelphia Maritime Exchange
• Philadelphia Museum library
• Philadelphia Public Library (est.1892), administered by the city Board of Education. Also called City Library
  • Branch no.1: Montgomery Ave. and 17th St.
  • Branch no.2: Broad and Federal St.
  • Branch no.3: Frankfort Ave.
  • Branch no.4: Roxboro
  • Branch no.5: West Philadelphia Institute, 40th St.
  • Branch no.6: Main St. and Chelten Ave., Germantown
• Philadelphia School of Anatomy
• Philadelphia Seminary
• Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture
• Philadelphia Turngemeinde
• Philips' Circulating Library, Third St.^[11]
• John Phillips' circulating library, South Fourth St.
• Polytechnic College
• Mrs. S. Potts' circulating library, Walnut St.
• Presbyterian Board of Publication
• Presbyterian Historical Society
• Presbyterian Home for Widows and Single Women
• Public Library for People of Color

R

• Roxborough Lyceum

S

• St. Joseph's College
• St. Timothy's Workingmen's Club and Institute
• Seamen's and Landsmen's Aid Society
• Shallus's Circulating Library^[12]
• Social Art Club
• Society of Students' library
• Southwark Library Company (est.1822)
• Spring Garden Institute (est.1835)

T

• Teachers' Institute of Philadelphia
• Theological Seminary (Mount Airy)
• Theological Seminary Reformed Presbyterian Church
• Theological Seminary St. Charles of Boromeo
• Three Monthly Meetings of Friends

U

• Union Circulating Library
• Union League Library
• United States Mint
• United States Naval Home
• United States Navy Yard
• Universal Peace Union
• University of Pennsylvania
  • Furness Library
  • Law Department
  • Medical Department

W

• Wagner Free Institute of Science
• Walnut St. Female Seminary
• West Philadelphia Institute
• Western Library Association of Philadelphia (est.1854)
• Wills Hospital
• Wilson's Circulating Library, South 11th St.
• Wistar Medical College
• Women's Christian Association^[13]
• Women's Hospital

Y

• YMCA Philadelphia
• Young Men's Institute

See also

• Books in the United States

Further reading

• Book: Libraries . http://hdl.handle.net/2027/njp.32101015568288?urlappend=%3Bseq=126 . Smith's Hand-book and Guide in Philadelphia . 1869 . 2027/njp.32101015568288?urlappend=%3Bseq=126.
• Book: J. Thomas Scharf . Thompson Westcott . Libraries and Historical and Scientific Societies . History of Philadelphia, 1609–1884 . http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015020849512?urlappend=%3Bseq=369 . 2 . 1884 . L.H. Everts . 2027/mdp.39015020849512?urlappend=%3Bseq=369 .
• A Free Library Problem . 19 . Library Journal . May 1894 . 2027/mdp.39015036908146?urlappend=%3Bseq=151. (reprinted from the Philadelphia Record)
• Philadelphia . 21 . 367 - 373; see page 369 . Museums, Learned Societies and Libraries....In 1727 Franklin, then in his twenty-second year, formed most of his “ingenious acquaintance into a club,” which he called the Junto, “for mutual improvement,” and out of the Junto grew in 1731 the library of the Library Company of Philadelphia.....

Notes and References

1. Web site: American Libraries before 1876 . Davies Project . Princeton University . July 30, 2013 .
2. Book: Elizabeth McHenry . 'An Association of Kindred Spirits': Black Readers and their Reading Rooms . Institutions of Reading: the Social Life of Libraries in the United States . 9781558495906 . Boston . . 2007 .
3. Book: McElroy's Philadelphia Directory . 1843 .
4. Web site: History . Free Library of Philadelphia . Walnut Street West . December 12, 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101223195929/https://libwww.freelibrary.org/branches/history.cfm?loc=WAL . December 23, 2010 . dead .
5. Web site: Horner Memorial Library . German Society of Pennsylvania . December 12, 2010 .
6. Web site: Drexel University College of Medicine History . December 20, 2010 .
7. Web site: Temple Univ. . TU Law History . December 20, 2010.
8. Hirst is sometimes spelled "Hurst"
9. Ridgway is sometimes spelled "Ridgeway"
10. Book: Boyd's Philadelphia Blue Book . 1890–1891 . C.E. Howe Co. . Philadelphia .
11. Book: James Mease . Picture of Philadelphia . 1811 . B. & T. Kite . Philadelphia .
12. Karen Nipps . Ann Shallus's Circulating Library . Journal of Library History . 26 . 4 . Spring 1991 . 608–610 . 2013-07-31 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100613222636/http://sentra.ischool.utexas.edu/~lcr/archive/bookplates/28_3_Shallus.htm . 2010-06-13 . dead .
13. Book: The City of Philadelphia as it Appears in the Year 1894 . G.S. Harris & Sons .