62378 AALL Spectrum.Apr 4/17/00 10:12 AM Page 6 hia: adelp Birthplace of Libraries il by Regina L. Smith Ph books and then strive to scholarly research library whose core acquire others. From this collection contains materials acquired organization grew the between its founding in 1731 and 1880. nation’s first public library, Its holdings comprise approximately the Library Company of 500,000 volumes. . Its members Other notable Philadelphia libraries drew up Articles of founded during the Colonial period Agreement on July 1, 1731, include: the library at Christ Church, with the original price of a founded in 1698; the Library of Friends of share equaling forty shillings. Philadelphia (Quaker), founded in 1741; Franklin often referred to the Library the Germantown Library, containing Company as “the mother of all the materials in German, founded in 1745; the North American subscription libraries.” hiladelphia, Hospital Library, founded in P For most of that first year, its subscribers 1763. The English Academy, later known notable for a number of firsts, has strong foundations with respect to the read from the collective books they had as the College of Philadelphia, now the printed word. The first printing press in donated. In 1732 the first books to be University of Pennsylvania Libraries, was the middle colonies arrived in Philadelphia purchased were ordered from London. founded in 1749. in 1685, three years after the arrival of They were housed in the home of Robert William Penn. This fair city also has the Grace, a Junto member. Louis Timothee, American Philosophical Society honor of having published the first daily the first librarian, agreed to attend the Societies were also prominent in Colonial newspaper issued in the , library for the purpose of lending books times and Philadelphia can claim another the American Daily Advertiser (1784), on Wednesdays, from two to three o’clock first with the American Philosophical as well as the first legal newspaper, in the afternoon, and from ten to four on Society, the oldest scientific institution in the the Legal Intelligencer (1843). More Saturdays. Only members of the library United States. founded important, Philadelphia is home to could borrow books, but “any civil the society in 1743 for promoting useful many of the oldest libraries in America. gentleman” could peruse the books of knowledge among the British plantations the library in the reading room. Franklin in America. Few of the Society’s early Books were rare and precious commodities himself even served as librarian for a documents have been preserved, but in the colonies. Ships that arrived in short period. we do know that the Philadelphia had the necessities for daily society considered and In subsequent years, other public life, but very few books. The books that investigated botany, libraries sprang up in Philadelphia— did come to America were expensive and medicine, mineralogy such as the Union Library owned mostly by the wealthy. Those who and mining, Company, the Association Library, owned books were eager to acquire more. mathematics, and the Amicable Library. They chemistry, mechanics, eventually merged their collections The Library Company of Philadelphia arts, trades, with the Library Company. By In 1728, Benjamin Franklin organized manufacturers, 1785, the Library Company had a club of young men and named it the geography, topography, 400 members and, within a few years, Junto, or the Club of Mutual Improvement. agriculture, and other its collection consisted of approximately It was a proving ground for new and disciplines. In 1769, the 7700 volumes. revolutionary ideas. The Junto’s members organization became known as “The first met at a local tavern. Its members When Philadelphia was the seat of American Philosophical Society, held consisted of a diverse group including government for the newly formed United at Philadelphia, for Promoting Useful Franklin, a copier of deeds for scriveners, States of America (1790–1800), the Knowledge.” Presidents of the Society a mathematician, a surveyor-general Library Company was located in the Old included Benjamin Franklin, David of the province, a shoemaker, a joiner, State House, now known as Independence Rittenhouse, and Thomas Jefferson. a pressman, a printer and bookbinder, Hall, and offered its services to the United By the mid-nineteenth century, the Society’s a compositor who was also an Oxford States Congress. Thus, it also served as the library contained about 22,000 volumes in scholar, a gentleman of fortune, and a first Library of Congress. merchant’s clerk. various languages, many of which were rare The Library Company continues today. and valuable. (The library uses a special At a meeting held in 1730, a member With the growth of free public libraries in classification scheme that should be of proposed that it might be more convenient the late 19th Century, the membership of interest to contemporary catalogers.) Today to have books onsite, so that they could the Library Company began to decline. the American Philosophical Society Library be consulted during discussions. The group Some of its collections were even absorbed houses more than 300,000 volumes; decided to pool their individually owned by the public institutions. Today it is a continued on page 8

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Philadelphia continued from page 6

7,000,000 manuscripts; 100,000 images; and the members resolved to purchase and thousands of hours of audio tape. books locally at auction and also from Philadelphia Library Web Sites It serves as a major research center for London. In 1805, William Rawle published The Library Company of Philadelphia the history of the sciences, medicine the library’s first catalog, which contained www.librarycompany.org and technology. Among its treasures are listings for 391 volumes; it is believed many Benjamin Franklin imprints and a that this is the first law catalog published The American Philosophical Society significant portion of his personal library. in the nation. www.amphilsoc.org College of Physicians of Philadelphia The library underwent a number of College of Physicians of Philadelphia changes in location and name. In 1827, Library The College of Physicians of Philadelphia it merged with the Associated Members of www.collphyphil.org was founded in 1787 by 24 prominent the Bar. The new organization was called Philadelphians. It is not an academic The Jenkins Memorial Law Library the Law Association, which it remained organization, but an educational and www.jenkinslaw.org until 1931, when it became known as the cultural institution dedicated to promoting library of the Philadelphia Bar Association. The Athenaeum a greater understanding of medicine and It came to its current name in 1967, www.libertynet.org/athena the roles of the physicians in contemporary when it became the Theodore F. Jenkins society. Its library was established the Memorial Law Library Company, thanks to Free Library of Philadelphia following year when a member donated a generous bequest from Madeleine Hart www.library.phila.gov 16 of his own books to the College. Others Jenkins. Most members of the Philadelphia followed suit, and in 1792 the college Academy of Natural Sciences legal community refer to it as Jenkins. hired a librarian to manage the collection. of Philadelphia Today, the Historical Services Division of The library does not have a permanent Ewell Sale Stewart Library the Library holds more than one million home and has occupied space in www.acnatsci.org/library manuscripts. This division also contains Independence Hall, Congress Hall, the AIDS Information Network Library 300,000 volumes of the Library’s 375,000 Edward Shippen Building, the Athenaeum, www.ain.org volumes. The library is known for its pre- City Hall, and the Widener Building. Today nineteenth century imprints, its more than it is housed in an office building. The Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies Library 440 incunabula, and its extensive collection library still maintains its extensive portrait www.libertynet.org/balch of nineteenth century medical journals. collection of judges and bar members. German Society of Philadelphia Jenkins is now a non-profit corporation that Joseph Horner Memorial Library Law Library Company of the City administers the county law library for the www.libertynet.org/~gsp and County of Philadelphia (Jenkins) city and county of Philadelphia. It is still The oldest law library in the country a membership library, and continues to Pennsylvania Hospital, Medical Library is the Law Library Company of the circulate most of its collection to members. www.pahosp.com City and County of The public is Pennsylvania Horticultural Society Philadelphia. It was permitted to use its McLean Library founded in 1802 by resources for a daily www.libertynet.org/phs/phslibrary.html 71 members of the fee. It currently has Philadelphia bar more than 9000 Philadelphia Museum of Art Library for the purpose of members and its www.philamuseum.org/resources/ maintaining a law collection contains library.shtml more than 300,000 library for the use Rosenbach Museum & Library volumes. of its members. Its www.rosenbach.org first home was in the Old State House, Athenaeum University of Pennsylvania now known as Another notable www.library.upenn.edu Independence Hall, post-Colonial library in a room on the east is the Athenaeum side, most likely in the of Philadelphia, name agreed upon. The annual dues office of the Clerk founded in 1813 were $5. The first president was of the Pennsylvania by half a dozen William Tilghman, then Chief Justice of Supreme Court. young men, most Pennsylvania. The group leased two rooms Many of its founders of whom were for the library in a building at the southeast were also members recent University corner of Fourth and Chestnut Streets. of the American of Pennsylvania Philosophical Society graduates. They On Monday, March 7, 1814, the rooms and the Library published an were opened to subscribers. The founders Company. address in the local newspapers promised they would have a reading room announcing the project, and more than containing the newspapers and periodical Shares in the library were $20 and annual one hundred subscribers signed on by publications of Philadelphia, as well as dues were $2. In 1802, there were only early February 1814, when a meeting was those from other states, and pamphlets 11 volumes of American reports in print, held at which rules were adopted and the of a useful or amusing nature, as well as continued on page 24 8 AALL Spectrum April 2000 62378 AALL Spectrum.Apr 4/17/00 10:13 AM Page 24

Special Interest Section News by Melinda D. Davis

Private Law Libraries SIS: Correcting Selectric, and marveled over Web page. PLL provides substantive Déjà vu all over again the fax machine, a few were lucky enough programs at the Annual Meeting and has to have e-mail and personal computers. established good working relationships Rita (Andie MacDowell): Have you ever Photocopiers moved into prominence with the American Bar Association and had déjà vu? and most of us used the telephone to the Association of Legal Administrators. communicate with our peers. Unlike Bill Murray, we do not always meet Phil (Bill Murray): Didn’t you just ask the same people in our repeating days me that? In 1977 the Practising Law Institute held its but we do find that each day offers new first Private Law Librarian Program. Does Like Bill Murray in the movie “Groundhog challenges that our colleagues and it surprise you to know we discussed the Day,” some private law librarians wonder association help us master. quality of legal research taught in law if we are endlessly repeating the issues schools, copyright, relationships with Compiled and edited by Melinda D. Davis, that challenge us until we too, get it vendors, budget cuts, and cost University of Tennessee Law Library, 1505 W. right. After reviewing some old copies Cumberland Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37996-1800 containment? Law firm librarians were (1978–1988) of The Private Law Firm • 865/974-6552 • fax: 865/974-6571 beginning to move into management • [email protected] Library, Managing the Private Law Library, and rethinking ways to better serve and the Private Law Librarians from their attorneys and increase access Practising Law Institute, it appears we to information. are getting better at meeting some of Would you like to edit our “challenges!” Since its formation in 1976, PLL’s this column? membership has doubled. Although many Twenty years ago, we praised new Please send a letter listing your of the issues remain the same, the elements technology like CD-ROMs, full text qualifications, and a sample of any have changed. Discussions of vendor capabilities on WESTLAW and LEXIS, writing/editing work you’ve done, to relations now focus on mega-companies automated catalogs in firm libraries and Peter Beck at AALL, 53 W. Jackson and spiraling costs; online databases now fee-based databases such as Disclosure, Blvd., Suite 940, Chicago, IL 60604. include the vast resources of the Internet. Orbit, Dialog and the New York Times Or send e-mail with attachments to Our paths of communication have opened Database. While we loved the new IBM [email protected]. to include our newsletter, listserv and

Philadelphia continued from page 8

maps and charts. The objectives of the catalog lists Bandit Bride (whose unbridled autographs, legal prints, books on the organization were to have a library of banditry fills three exciting volumes), Common law); John Frederick Lewis general reference, particularly of standard Chit-Chat of Paris (very racy), and Night Collections (cuneiform tablets, 9th–18th dictionaries, and such original and Mare Abbey (all too plainly a forerunner century European manuscripts, Oriental valuable works in the learned and modern of the modern whodunit), among others. manuscripts and miniatures); Kate languages as are not usually found in Greenway; Beatrix Potter; Richard Gimbel Today the Athenaeum remains a other libraries. In addition, they wanted collection (Edgar Allen Poe manuscripts, subscription library, and is known for its to collect the laws of the United States, letters, 1st editions and subsequent premier collection of architecture and Congressional journals, important state printings); and many more too numerous building technology as well as interior papers, reviews and scientific journals to list. It also has excellent collections design materials, pre-1914 periodicals, and magazines of Europe, and the best in orchestral music, art/picture/print, and trade catalogs. modern works. newspapers, and maps. This was an ambitious program for a Free Library of Philadelphia You can take a virtual tour of these reading room library. The Pennsylvania The Free Library of Philadelphia was libraries by visiting their home pages. Legislature refused to grant the founded in 1891 out of the need for an In addition to the libraries described in organization a charter on the grounds that adequate public and free library. The this article, the sidebar lists home pages some of its members had an objectionable main building, located at 19th and the from other special libraries in Philadelphia. political complexion, but the Pennsylvania Parkway, was designed by Horace Be sure to make time to visit them in Supreme Court granted the Athenaeum a Trumbauer, a noted architect of the person while attending the Annual charter of incorporation in April 1815. time. Today it is one of the city’s most Meeting and Conference in Philadelphia The Athenaeum offered all citizens of vital institutions and it now has 54 this summer. Philadelphia the opportunity for self- neighborhood branches. The library is Regina L. Smith ([email protected]) improvement, and it also offered them known for its many special collections, is Director of the Jenkins Memorial Law the opportunity to interact with each other. including the Hampton L. Carson Library in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its collection was scholarly, yet the 1820 Collection (American and English

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