The Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) is the public library system of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is the sixteenth largest public library system in the United States by holding and the seventh by number of visitors. Like the two other public library systems in New York City, it is an independent nonprofit organization that is funded by the city and state governments, the federal government, and private donors. The library currently promotes itself as Bklyn Public Library.
The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded approximately by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park and Fifth Avenue to the west. The area incorporates several smaller neighborhoods, including Lenox Hill, Carnegie Hill, and Yorkville. Once known as the Silk Stocking District, it has long been the most affluent neighborhood in New York City.
Mechanics' institutes, also known as mechanics' institutions, sometimes simply known as institutes, and also called schools of arts, were educational establishments originally formed to provide adult education, particularly in technical subjects, to working men in Victorian-era Britain and its colonies. They were often funded by local industrialists on the grounds that they would ultimately benefit from having more knowledgeable and skilled employees. The mechanics' institutes often included libraries for the adult working class, and were said to provide them with an alternative pastime to gambling and drinking in pubs.
PMI Victorian History Library Inc. is a community-owned subscription library situated at 39 St Edmonds Road, Prahran, Victoria, Australia. The library focuses on collecting resources about every locality in Victoria and every aspect of the history of the state. The library was previously situated in High Street, Prahran from 1915 to 2014 and Chapel Street, Prahran from 1854 to 1915. It is one of the oldest surviving Mechanics' Institutes in Victoria and one of only six still operating as a lending library. It was the only mechanics' institute in Victoria still governed by its own Act of Parliament. But in 2022 it incorporated as the PMI Victorian History Library Inc. under the Associations Incorporation Reform Act (2012).
The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society is a non-profit institution located at 36 West 44th Street in New York City. Founded in 1869, it is the second-oldest genealogical society in the United States, and the only statewide genealogical society in New York state. Its purpose is to collect and make available information on genealogy, biography, and history, particularly in relation to New Yorkers. The Society also publishes periodicals and books, conducts educational programs, maintains a Committee on Heraldry, and offers other services.
A subscription library is a library that is financed by private funds either from membership fees or endowments. Unlike a public library, access is often restricted to members, but access rights can also be given to non-members, such as students.
The John M. Mossman Lock Collection is housed at the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen of the City of New York building at 20 West 44th Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The museum houses one of the largest collections of bank and vault locks in the world, with more than 370 locks, keys and tools dating from 4000 BC to the modern 20th-century.
The New York Center for Independent Publishing is located on New York's "Literary Row" at 20 West 44th Street in Midtown Manhattan. Formerly the Small Press Center, the Center was founded by Whitney North Seymour, Jr. in 1984. The Center's historical seedbed as the home of independent publishing dates back to 1831, when James Harper, one of the original four Harper Brothers, joined as a member of the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen of the City of New York, which has housed the Center since its inception. Other early printer and publisher members include John Bishop Putnam, James J. Little and Benjamin Collins.
The Carnegie Library is in Egerton Street, Runcorn, Cheshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building and "possesses special architectural and historic interest within a national context". It was built in 1906 as an extension to Waterloo House and the existing library with a grant from Andrew Carnegie, and closed in 2012.
The Toronto Mechanics' Institute, originally named the York Mechanics' Institute, was an educational institution in 19th century Toronto that became the city's first public library. It was one of a series of mechanics' institutes that were set up around the world after becoming popular in Britain. Established in 1830, it was designed to provide technical and adult education.
The Bradford Mechanics' Institute Library was established in Bradford, England, in 1832 as part of a national initiative to provide adult education especially in technical subjects for working men. The institute in Bradford was supported by numerous local worthies, including James Hanson after whom is named one of Bradford's largest high schools.
The Mechanic Apprentices Library Association (1820-1892) of Boston, Massachusetts, functioned as "a club of young apprentices to mechanics and manufacturers ... whose object is moral, social, and literary improvement." Some historians describe it as "the first of the kind known to have been established in any country." Founded by William Wood in 1820, it also had an intermittent formal relationship with the larger, more established Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association. In its heyday, roughly 1820s-1850s, the Apprentices Library "[met] quarterly ; ... [had] nearly 200 members, and a library of about 2000 volumes; connected with which [was] a reading room, gratuitously supplied with the best newspapers and magazines of the city, and a cabinet of natural history. In addition to these advantages, the association [had] lectures and debates in the winter, and a social class for the study of elocution in the summer."
The Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts (SMSA) is the longest running School of Arts and the oldest continuous lending library in Australia.
The cultural and legal framework within which tradesmen contracted for work, and hired men was similar to that of Great Britain. These immigrants quickly sought to establish and regulate the basic institutions of the trades: Friendly societies, the house of call and apprenticeship. Friendly societies were worker controlled mutual insurance organizations. They provided an income in the case of strike, injury or economic downturn. Their association with specific trades also made them useful vehicles for trade union organization.
A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is generally funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also civil servants.
The Maine Charitable Mechanic Association is a private non-profit organization located in Portland, Maine, United States. Founded in 1815, it has since 1859 been headquartered at Mechanics' Hall, 519 Congress Street, in the center of Portland. The library's hours are Tuesday through Thursday from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Friday from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., and Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
The Lincoln Mechanics' Institute or Lincoln and Lincolnshire Mechanics' Institute was founded in Lincoln, England in 1833. It was one of the many Mechanics' institutes which sprang up in the early 19th century and was the first Mechanics' Institute to be founded in Lincolnshire.
Lenore Janis was an American businesswoman and city official, a founder and president of Professional Women in Construction.
The Horological Society of New York (HSNY) is an American nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the art and science of horology.
