Benjamin Franklin is credited with bifocals and printing presses, but one of his lesser-known projects is still flourishing in Philadelphia.
The Library Company of Philadelphia, founded by Franklin, stands as the oldest cultural institution in the United States. It is located on Locust Street in Center City Philadelphia.
Franklin’s signature appears on the Articles of Association for the institution from July 1731, marking its founding and early mission to educate and improve the community.
Franklin and his collaborators funded and sourced European books to establish a foundational collection that served as a public library for shareholders and readers alike.
“We’re very proud of the period from 1774-1800, when Philadelphia was pretty much the capital of the colonies and then the nation, when our directors made the collection available to all of the delegates, to the various Continental Congresses and the Constitutional Convention and the early federal congresses after the founding. We like to describe ourselves as the first, though unofficial, Library of Congress,” Van Horne told CBS News Philadelphia.
The library’s history includes several moves from Carpenters Hall in Old City to a building at Fifth and Chestnut streets, then to South Broad Street into the building that is now the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts. It ultimately ended up at its current Locust Street location, where it functions as a research library.
Today, only a small part of the library’s collection is on display.
“We think we have about half a million books, which are kept on five stacked floors above us,” Van Horne explained to CBS News Philadelphia. “And then we probably have maybe 150,000 graphic works.”
The collection is still growing, according to Van Horne.
While reading rooms operate by appointment, the library company hosts free exhibitions that are open to the public, underscoring the institution’s ongoing role as a center for research and cultural heritage in Philadelphia.