Library Company of Philadelphia

Founded in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin and his associates, the Library Company of Philadelphia began as a shared subscription library created by members of Franklin’s Junto, who pooled funds to obtain books that were costly and slow to import. It grew from a lending library into a leading American repository of manuscripts, books, maps, pamphlets, and printed ephemera, while also serving Congress delegates and functioning as an important national resource for political and intellectual life before the Library of Congress existed. Its collections expanded through major acquisitions, and today it remains a major scholarly center with rare materials from the 17th century, the Revolution, and the early republic.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania · United States