List of libraries in 18th-century Massachusetts

This is a list of libraries in 18th-century Massachusetts , North America. It includes subscription, rental, medical, church, and academic libraries. In general, it excludes book collections of private individuals.

Constitution, Newton Library Society, 1799

Advertisement for Osborne's circulating library, Newburyport, 1792

There should be a social or circulating library in every town. Less money than a man spends on an election, or training day for punch or grog, would entitle him a reader or proprietor. ... In rainy weather, in winter, or holidays, in the intervals of rest, or during sickness, books will afford treasures and consolations which blockheads know not of. ... They raise men from being savages and brutes. In a word, no town should be destitute of a library.

—The Minerva (Dedham, Massachusetts), June 14, 1798

Advertisement for Carlton's circulating library, Salem, 1793

Catalogue, Wareham Social Library, 1798

Rules, Worcester Circulating Library Co., 1793

Boston

• American Academy of Arts and Sciences (est. 1780) ^{[1] [2]}
• W.P. & L. Blake's Circulating Library, Boston ^[3]
• Boston Library Society (est.1792)
• Christ Church ^[4]
• Benjamin Guild's circulating library, Boston ^[5]
• King's Chapel ^{[6] [7]}
• William Martin's Circulating Library, Boston ^{[8] [9]}
• Massachusetts Historical Library, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston ^[10]
• Massachusetts Medical Society ^{[11] [12]}
• John Mein's Circulating Library, Boston ^[13]
• New England Library, collected by Thomas Prince ^{[14] [15] [16]}
• William Pelham's circulating library
• Town Library, in the Town-House, King St. ^{[17] [18]}

Boylston, Massachusetts

• Social Library, Boylston Center (est.1792) ^[1]

Bridgewater, Massachusetts

• Library in the East Precinct of Bridgewater ^[19]

Cambridge, Massachusetts

• Harvard College Library ^[20]

Concord, Massachusetts

• Charitable Library Society, Concord (est.1795) ^[19]

Dorchester, Massachusetts

• Dorchester Library ^[21]

Douglas, Massachusetts

• Douglas Social Library Association (est.1799) ^[19]

Falmouth, Massachusetts

• First Congregational Church Library, Falmouth ^[1]

Franklin, Massachusetts

• Franklin Library (est.1786) ^{[1] [22]}

Groton, Massachusetts

• Groton First Parish Library (est.1793) ^[1]

Haverhill, Massachusetts

• Haverhill Library ^[23]

Hingham, Massachusetts

• First Social Library, Hingham Centre (est.1771) ^[19]

Lancaster, Massachusetts

• Lancaster Library (est.1790) ^[24]

Leicester, Massachusetts

• Leicester Social Library Company (est.1793) ^[19]

Leominster, Massachusetts

• Social Library, Leominster (est.1763) ^[1]

Lincoln, Massachusetts

• Lincoln Social Library (est.1798) ^{[25] [26]}

Lunenburg, Massachusetts

• Lunenburg Social Library (est.1792) ^[24]

Marlborough, Massachusetts

• Social Library, Marlborough ^[19]

Medfield, Massachusetts

• Medfield Social Library (est.1786) ^[19]

Middleton, Massachusetts

• Social library, Middleton (est.1772) ^[19]

Newburyport, Massachusetts

• First Social Library, Newburyport ^[27]
• Newburyport Book-Store circulating library ^[28]
• Newburyport Library ^[29]
• George Jerry Osborne's circulating library, "at his shop, Guttemberg's Head" Newburyport ^[30]

Newton, Massachusetts

• Newton Library Society ^[31]

Oxford, Massachusetts

• Social Library, Oxford ^[32]

Pittsfield, Massachusetts

• Pittsfield Library Society ^[33]

Rowe, Massachusetts

• Rowe Social Library (est.1797) ^{[1] [34]}

Royalston, Massachusetts

• Library Company of Royalston (est.1778) ^[24]

Salem, Massachusetts

• William Carlton's circulating library, Salem ^[35]
• John Dabney's circulating library, Salem ^[36]
• Philosophical Library, Salem (est.1781) ^[37]
• Social Library, Salem (est.1760) ^{[38] [39]}

Springfield, Massachusetts

• Springfield Library Company ^[40]

Wareham, Massachusetts

• Wareham Social Library ^[41]

Watertown, Massachusetts

• Union Library Society (est.1779) ^[42]

Westford, Massachusetts

• Social library, Westford (est.1797) ^{[1] [34]}

Williamstown, Massachusetts

• Williams College Library

Worcester, Massachusetts

• Worcester Circulating Library Company ^[43]
• Worcester District Medical Library (est.1798) ^[1]

See also

• List of libraries in 19th-century Boston, Massachusetts
• List of public libraries in Massachusetts
• Books in the United States
• List of booksellers in Boston

References

1. Crane, Ellery Bicknell (1908). "What our New England forefathers had to read". Proceedings of the Worcester Society of Antiquity. 23. Retrieved December 8, 2010.
2. Fleet's pocket almanack ... calculated for the use of the state of Massachusetts-Bay. 1789.
3. "Found." The Minerva (Dedham, Massachusetts); Date: 12-06-1798
4. Percival Merritt (1917), The parochial library of the eighteenth century in Christ Church, Boston, Boston: Privately printed at the Merrymount Press, OCLC   38863799, OL   23324737M
5. New select catalogue of Benjamin Guild's circulating library : containing principally novels, voyages, travels, poetry, periodical publications, and books of entertainment. At the Boston Book-Store, no. 59, Cornhill. Boston: Printed for Benjamin Guild, 1789
6. Merritt. 1917
7. At present the Boston Athenaeum "houses the King's Chapel Collection of mostly 17th century theological works." http://www.bostonathenaeum.org/node/32 Retrieved 2010-12-17
8. Catalogue of Martin's Circulating Library, at no. 45, Main-Street, Boston. Boston: Printed by Edmund Freeman, 1786
9. Glowing testimonial about Martin's "Boston Circulating Library" from a "country customer" printed in the Independent Chronicle (Boston), reprinted in: New-Haven Gazette, 01-19-1786
10. Catalogue of books in the Massachusetts Historical Library. Boston, Printed by S. Hall, no. 53, Cornhill, 1796
11. Fleet's pocket almanack ... calculated for the use of the state of Massachusetts-Bay. 1790.
12. Samuel A. Green. Portions of the Centennial Address before the Massachusetts Medical Society, June 7, 1881. Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, June 8, 1881.
13. A catalogue of Mein's Circulating Library; : consisting of above twelve hundred volumes, in most branches of polite literature, arts and sciences; viz. history, voyages, travels, lives, memoirs, antiquities, philosophy, novels, divinity, physic, surgery, anatomy, arts, sciences, plays, poetry, husbandry, navigation, gardening, mathematics, laws, &c. &c. &c. : Which are lent to read, at one pound eight shillings, lawful money, per year; eighteen shillings per half-year; or, ten and eight pence per quarter; by John Mein, bookseller at the London Book-Store, second door above the British Coffee-House, north-side of King-Street, Boston. Boston: : Printed [by M'Alpine and Fleeming], 1765
14. The collection of Thomas Prince now resides in the Boston Public Library. "Boston Public Library". Archived from the original on November 20, 2010. Retrieved December 17, 2010.
15. Catalogue of the collection of books and manuscripts which formerly belonged to the Rev. Thomas Prince, and was by him bequeathed to the Old South Church, and is now deposited in the Public Library of the City of Boston. 1870
16. Harrison, Joseph Leroy (1894). "The public library movement in the United States". New England Magazine. 10:6. Retrieved December 8, 2010.
17. Michael J. Canavan (March 1980). "The Old Boston Public Library, 1656-1747". Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts.
18. "Town's library". Records of the Boston Selectmen 1701-1715.
19. Report of the Free Public Library Commission of Massachusetts. 1899. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
20. Catalogus, eorum qui in Collegio Harvardino, quod est Cantabrigiæ Nov-Anglorum, ab anno 1642. ad annum 1700
21. Rules and orders of the Dorchester Library : with a catalogue of the books, August, MDCCXCIV. Boston : By I. Thomas and E.T. Andrews, Faust's Statue, no. 45, Newbury Street, 1794
22. "History of the Franklin Public Library".
23. Rules and regulations of Haverhill Library, 1796. Early American Imprints, Series 1, no. 47800
24. Shera (1949). Foundations of the public library: the origins of the public library movement in New England, 1629-1855 . Retrieved December 7, 2010.
25. "Lincoln Public Library" (PDF).
26. Proceedings at the dedication of the Lincoln Library, Massachusetts: August 5, 1884. Cambridge, Mass.: John Wilson and Son. University Press, 1884
27. Newburyport_Herald.; Date: 12-31-1799
28. Impartial Herald (Newburyport, Massachusetts); Date: 10-24-1797
29. A catalogue of books in the Newburyport Library (Newburyport, Mass. : Blunt and March, 1795). The constitution and catalogue of books, of the Newburyport Library (Newburyport [Mass.] : printed by Edmund M. Blunt, 1797)
30. Essex Journal(Newburyport, Massachusetts); Date: 06-13-1792
31. Constitution of the Newton Library Society, 1799. Early American Imprints, Series 1, no. 48949
32. George Fisher Daniels. History of the town of Oxford, Massachusetts: with genealogies and notes on persons and estates, Volume 1. Pub. by the author with the cooperation of the town, 1892
33. Berkshire Gazette (Pittsfield, Massachusetts); Date: 03-28-1798
34. Report of the Free Public Library Commission of Massachusetts. 1891. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
35. Salem_Gazette; Date: 08-20-1793
36. Catalogue of books, for sale or circulation, in town or country, by John Dabney, at his book and stationary store, and circulating library, in Salem. [Salem, Mass.] : Printed [by Thomas C. Cushing] for J. Dabney, 1791
37. Cynthia B. Wiggin. "Salem Athenaeum." Journal of Library History; 1968, Vol. 3 Issue 3, p257-260
38. Essex Gazette.; Date: From Tuesday, September 12, to Tuesday, September 19, 1769
39. Bylaws and regulations of the incorporated proprietors of the Social Library in Salem. 1797
40. Catalogue of books, belonging to the Springfield Library Company, April, 1796. Springfield, Mass. : Printed by Francis Stebbins, 1796
41. Catalogue of books, belonging to Wareham Social Library, 1798. Newbedford, Mass. : By J. Spooner, for the proprietors, 1798
42. "Watertown Public Library". Archived from the original on June 27, 2009. Retrieved December 8, 2010.
43. Rules and regulations of the Worcester Associate Library Company. 1793

External links

• Princeton University. Davies Project. American Libraries before 1876.