LIBRARY NOTES
William J. Dean
To Library Members
Thursday, June 1, 1995
The founding of The New York Society Library was an outgrowth of a desire for civic improvement; in the words of a founder, to promote "a spirit of inquiry among the people."
On April 8, 1754, an article appearing in The New-York Mercury referred to "A Subscription...now on Foot, and carried on with great Spirit, in order to raise Money for erecting and maintaining a publick Library in this City... We make no doubt but a Scheme of this Nature, so well calculated for promoting Literature, will meet with due Encouragement from all who wish the happiness of the rising Generation."
The Library's governing articles state that "a Publick Library would be very useful, as well as ornamental to this City and may also advantageous to our intended College," referring to King's College, now Columbia, founded the same year as the Library. Faculty and students from the college made use of the Library in its first home: a room in the Old City Hall on Wall Street facing Broad Street.
Members may wish to consult the
History of The New York Society Library (1908) by Austin Baxter Keep, from which these notes are drawn.
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