Charles Ammi Cutter was an American librarian. In the 1850s and 1860s he assisted with the re-cataloging of the Harvard College library, producing America's first public card catalog. The card system proved more flexible for librarians and far more useful to patrons than the old method of entering titles in chronological order in large books. In 1868 he joined the Boston Athenaeum, making its card catalog an international model. Cutter promoted centralized cataloging of books, which became the standard practice at the Library of Congress. He was elected to leadership positions in numerous library organizations at the local and national level. Cutter is remembered for the Cutter Expansive Classification, his system of giving standardized classification numbers to each book, and arranging them on shelves by that number so that books on similar topics would be shelved together.
Chetham's Library in Manchester, England, is the oldest free public reference library in the English-speaking world. Chetham's Hospital, which contains both the library and Chetham's School of Music, was established in 1653 under the will of Humphrey Chetham (1580–1653), for the education of "the sons of honest, industrious and painful parents", and a library for the use of scholars. The library has been in continuous use since 1653. It operates as an independent charity.
The Boston Athenaeum is one of the oldest independent libraries in the United States. It is also one of a number of membership libraries, for which patrons pay a yearly subscription fee to use Athenaeum services. The institution was founded in 1807 by the Anthology Club of Boston, Massachusetts. It is located at 10½ Beacon Street on Beacon Hill.
William Frederick Poole was an American bibliographer and librarian.
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.
Columbia University Libraries is the library system of Columbia University and one of the largest academic library systems in North America. With 15.0 million volumes and over 160,000 journals and serials, as well as extensive electronic resources, manuscripts, rare books, microforms, maps, and graphic and audio-visual materials, it is the fifth-largest academic library in the United States and the largest academic library in the State of New York. Additionally, the closely affiliated Jewish Theological Seminary Library holds over 400,000 volumes, which combined makes the Columbia University Libraries the third-largest academic library, and the second-largest private library in the United States.
Portland Public Library is the main library of the public library system in Portland, Maine, USA. It is located at 5 Monument Square on Congress Street in the Old Port of Portland, Maine. The library has three neighborhood branches, Burbank branch, Peaks Island branch, and Riverton branch.
The Redwood Library and Athenaeum is a subscription library, museum, rare book repository and research center founded in 1747, and located at 50 Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island. The building, designed by Peter Harrison and completed in March 1750, was the first purposely built library in the United States, and the oldest neo-Classical building in the country. It has been in continuous use since its opening.
The Providence Athenaeum is an independent, member-supported subscription library in the College Hill neighborhood of Providence, Rhode Island. The building is open to the public, but only members can check out items from the collection.
The Chestnut Street District is a historic district bounded roughly by Bridge, Lynn, Beckford, and River Streets in Salem, Massachusetts. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and enlarged slightly in 1978. The district contains a number of architecturally significant works of Samuel McIntire, a builder and woodworker who had a house and workshop at 31 Summer Street, and who designed and built a number of these houses, and others that display the profits made in the Old China Trade by Salem's merchants. The district is a subset of a larger locally designated McIntire Historic District.
The Portland Library Society (1763–1826) or Portland Library was a subscription library in Portland, Maine. The library "was originally established in 1763. It was revived in 1786, and re-established in 1806." Samuel Freeman served as librarian ca.1785-1807; followed by Oliver Bray (ca.1812-1817). New members were elected. The annual fee for each member was "two dollars per year in 1784 and fifteen dollars by 1801."
The Essex County Natural History Society (1833–1848) in Salem, Massachusetts, was formed "for the purpose of promoting the science of natural history." It endeavored "to form a complete collection of natural productions, curiosities. &c, particularly of this county; and, to form a library of standard books on the natural sciences." The society incorporated in 1836; Andrew Nichols, William Oakes, and William Prescott served as signatories. Other members included Samuel B. Buttrick, Samuel P. Fowler, John M. Ives, John C. Lee, George Osgood, Charles G. Page, Gardner B. Perry, George Dean Phippen, William P. Richardson, John Lewis Russell, Henry Wheatland. By 1836 some 100 members belonged to the society. In Salem its "cabinets and library were first deposited in Essex Place, then in Franklin Building, then in Chase's Building, Washington Street, and finally removed to Pickman Place, in 1842." In 1848 the society merged with the Essex Historical Society to form the Essex Institute.
The Salem Social Library (1760-1810) or Social Library in Salem was a proprietary library in Salem, Massachusetts. "Twenty-eight gentlemen ... subscribed 165 guineas. ... A Boston minister, [Jeremy Condy], was employed to buy the books in London and the library opened in a brick schoolhouse May 20, 1761, with 415 volumes including gifts given by members. The revolution was a bitter blow to many of the gentlemen who had founded the library. Many of the proprietors fled to England. ... In 1784 the library made a new start in new quarters in the new ... schoolhouse. Here they remained about 15 years, the schoolmaster acting as librarian." "In 1797 they became incorporated;" Edward Augustus Holyoke, Jacob Ashton, Joseph Hiller, and Edward Pulling served as signatories. "There were over 40 proprietors when in 1810 the library was turned over to the [Salem] Athenaeum."
The Salem Philosophical Library (1781–1810) or Philosophical Library Company was a proprietary library in Salem, Massachusetts. Men affiliated with the library included: Tho. Bancroft, Thomas Barnard, William Bentley, Joseph Blaney, Nathaniel Bowditch, Manasseh Cutler, Nathan Dane, Joshua Fisher, Edward Augustus Holyoke, Joseph Mc'keen, B. Lynde Oliver, Joseph Orne, William Prescott, Samuel Page, Joshua Plummer, John Prince, Nathan Read, John D. Treadwell, Ichabod Tucker, and Joseph Willard. "The Library was kept at the house of Rev. Joseph Willard of Beverly, till ... December, 1781. ... His successor was Rev. Dr. Prince, who had the volumes at his mansion" in Salem. "By 1810, many of the members of the [Salem] Social Library also belonged to the Philosophical Library, and the two bodies were merged to create the Salem Athenaeum."
The Phillips Library of the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) is a rare books and special collections library. It is made up of the collections of the former Peabody Museum of Salem and the Essex Institute. Both had libraries named for members of the Phillips family.
William Smith Shaw was an American librarian. He was a founder of the Boston Athenæum as well as the Athenæum's first librarian.
Joseph McKean was the second holder of the Boylston Professorship of Rhetoric and Oratory at Harvard University. He was also the seventh librarian of the Massachusetts Historical Society, occupying that position from October 1809, to April, 1812. It was during this time that he created the first catalog of the Boston Athenæum.
Edgar Osborne (1890–1978) was a distinguished librarian, an able administrator, scholar and collector, who founded one of the premier collections of children's fiction, the Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books.
The Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books is a collection of children's books with over 80,000 items held at the Toronto Public Library, Canada.
