Existing comment:
The Library Company of Philadelphia, 1731
Junto members read to education themselves. Most books available to the colonies were imported and expensive, so the group pooled their resources to form the Library Company of Philadelphia. Members' subscription fees paid for new acquisitions. For a cash deposit, non-members could also use the library and check out books. The Library Company, the oldest public library in America, now thrives as a research library specializing in early American history and culture.
"By thus clubbing our Books to a common Library, we should... have each of us the Advantage of using the Books of all the other Members, which would be nearly as beneficial as if each owned the whole."
-- Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography |