From the number of calls and in-person questions that we’ve received at the Bartholomew County Public Library reference desk, many of you are already aware of the free Gale Courses resource that the library added at the beginning of August. They were featured in an article in The Republic on July 28.
These classes, as well as a number of online resources like Mango Languages, are simply the newest technological twist in a longstanding tradition tying together self-improvement and libraries in the United States.
Founding Father, printer and self-improvement advocate Benjamin Franklin established a subscription library (supported by a membership fee and annual dues) in Philadelphia in 1731, a model that spread across several colonies by the 1750s. Another Founding Father, Thomas Jefferson, derived much of his education from private reading rather than schooling.
His personal library was so large and varied that it was purchased to replace the original Library of Congress, which was destroyed — along with much of the capital — during the War of 1812. The sale benefited both Jefferson and the library, doubling the library’s original size and easing some of Jefferson’s financial difficulties.
However, it was in the late 1800s when public libraries really took off, due to funding from wealthy men interested in promoting self-improvement. Although there are lots of examples throughout history of the rich and the aristocratic feeling obligated to give back to society, this has often been through official means, like government or military service.
In the years following the Civil War, social conditions and technological innovations gave rise to wealthy men who were — or considered themselves — self-made. Because of the origins of their wealth, when they felt the need to give back to society, they often chose to fund institutions that supported that ideal: through work and application, and maybe a little luck, a person could be a success.
While there were several library-supporting millionaires with familiar names, including Walter Newberry and George Peabody, the one with the most widespread influence was Andrew Carnegie. Most are probably familiar with the industrialist who funded libraries across the country (including the predecessor to the local library), and perhaps have heard the story that when he was young he was able to avail himself of a library — in this case a wealthy person’s private library — which helped him become successful.
There’s a certain amount of mythologizing involved in that story, but it’s not entirely fictional, either.
Moreover, his story presents an ideal of what a library can do. The earlier history, though, provides other examples. Franklin’s subscription library was housed in the second floor of the Carpenters’ Hall, in Philadelphia. In 1774, the lower level hosted the First Continental Congress. While the meeting hall wasn’t technically part of the library, this idea of the building — a place of learning, research and meeting — continues.
For more information on the history of libraries, see “The Library: An Illustrated History,” by Stuart A. P. Murray; and “Free to All: Carnegie Libraries and American Culture, 1890-1920,” by Abigail A. Van Slyck.
Robert Mixner is a reference librarian at the Bartholomew County Public Library and can be reached at rjmixer@mybcpl.org.
