Humanities Library Research

1730s Benjamin Franklin and Subscription Libraries

• "At the Insistance of Benjamin Franklin": A Brief History of the Library Company of Philadelphia (article)

• SCHOLARS MEET TO CELEBRATE BIRTHDAY OF BEN FRANKLIN'S LIBRARY (article - click below)

• Episode 001: James N. Green, Librarian at the Library Company of Philadelphia (podcast)

1800 - The Library of Congress

• History of the Library of Congress (article)

• A Brief History (article)

• The Library of Congress (article)

• The Library of Congress (video)

1830s Origin of Public Lending Libraries supported by Taxpayer Funds

• Peterborough Town Library (article)

• History of US Public Libraries (article)

• US Library Firsts (article with links)

Late 1800s Andrew Carnegie and the Library Movement

• Carnegie Libraries (article)

• The Andrew Carnegie Libraries (video)

• Carnegie Libraries: their history and impact on American public library development (article - click below)

Early 1900s Maryland: The First Bookmobile

• Mary Lemist Titcomb (brief article)

• THE BOOK MISSIONARY Mary Lemist Titcomb (Podcast)

• Library on Wheels: Mary Lemist Titcomb and America's First Bookmobile (print book - get from librarians!)

1935-1943: Pack Horse Library Project

• Horse-Riding Librarians Were the Great Depression’s Bookmobiles (article)

• The Pack Horse Librarians of Appalachia (video)

• The Pack Horse Librarians of Eastern Kentucky (article)

• The Book Women of Kentucky (article - click below)

1960s Civil Rights Movement: Freedom Libraries

• Segregated Libraries (article)

• Freedom Libraries and the Fight for Library Equity (article)

• Libraries feel attacked — but not like the ‘freedom libraries’ of 1964 (article)

• Freedom Libraries: The Untold Story of Libraries for African Americans in the South (print book - get from librarians!)