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How libraries in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and other Pennsylvania communities evolved from subscription clubs to vital public institutions
How libraries in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and other Pennsylvania communities evolved from subscription clubs to vital public institutions. Originally published by The Conversation.
By Bernadette A. Lear, Education, Behavioral Sciences, and Social Sciences Librarian, Penn State · 2026-09-15T13:20:36.480Z
Pennsylvania played a vital role in the growth and spread of public libraries in America. Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images As a librarian who researches https://scholar.google.com/citations?user= 5JXakAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao and writes about library history in Pennsylvania https://palibhist.blogspot.com/ , I was delighted to see the American Library Association’s efforts to celebrate its 150th anniversary https://ala150.org/ this year, while making several mentions of Pennsylvania. The ALA highlighted its 1876 founding in Philadelphia https://ala150.org/present at the creation/ ; how Pittsburgh philanthropist Andrew Carnegie https://ala150.org/youve got mail carnegie libraries as seen through library postcards/ funded the construction of more than 1,600 library buildings throughout the United States; and Scranton’s Henry and Edith Carr https://ala150.org/henry and edith carr alas golden couple/ , who attended and maintained records about the ALA’s early conferences for nearly 50 years. But these stories just scratch the surface of how Pennsylvanians have contributed to American libraries and librarianship. I published a book on Pennsylvania libraries from the 1700s through the 1940s https://upittpress.org/books/9780822947004/ , and I’m working on a sequel that extends the story to the early 2000s. Many scholars connect the beginning of public librarianship in the United States to ALA’s 1876 founding, but libraries’ roots go back much further https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/american libraries before 1876 9780313312779/ .
The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh has 19 branches throughout the city, including the main branch in Oakland. bgwalker/iStock/Getty Images Plus America’s first ‘public’ library The Library Company of Philadelphia https://librarycompany.org/about lcp/ , established in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin, was the nation’s first successful circulating library and was a model for many others. These early “public” libraries – so called because they did not require users to affiliate with churches, colleges or other organizations – were run by stockholders who pooled funds to purchase books. The owners charged annual membership fees to others who wanted to join. In the 19th century there was widespread desire among U.S. educators, women’s clubs, local government leaders and public spirited citizens to provide libraries to everyone, whether or not they could afford to subscribe. Today, some people incorrectly believe that steel magnate Carnegie was the first philanthropist to donate money for library buildings. However, a number of other Pennsylvanians preceded him. In 1883, for example, Thomas Struthers https://archives.house.state.pa.us/people/member biography?ID=8250 , a lawyer and land developer, constructed a multipurpose building https://www.strutherslibrarytheatre.org/history in Warren, Penn., that contained a theater and storefronts. Those spaces were to support a public library that was also in the building. The business plan didn’t work, however, and users had to purchase “tickets” to borrow books. Given such situations, Carnegie’s philanthropy https://carnegie.org/about/andrew carnegie story/ was especially impactful because it shifted some financial responsibility to local governments. While some of the lavish libraries Carnegie first erected in the Pittsburgh area came with endowments – the Homestead library https://www.jstor.org/stable/27778546 is one that still exists – he later developed a formula to ensure that other communities would not rely on his continuous generosity. As a condition of most of his grants, Carnegie insisted that municipalities provide land plus annual operating funds equivalent to at least 10% of the buildings’ costs. This effectively committed municipalities to finance libraries with public dollars.
This library in Reading, Pa., was built with a $100,000 grant from Andrew Carnegie and opened in 1913. Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images Federal and state support for public libraries In Pennsylvania, rural residents received a library boost with the passage of Act 329 https://palrb.gov/getfile.cfm?file=resources/preservation project/pltiftopdf/19001999/1931/0/act/0329.pdf&view=true in 1931. The legislation offered partial matching funds to counties that provided library services. Notably, the law excluded the state’s two largest counties – Philadelphia and Allegheny. The federal Library Services Act of 1956 1962, a forerunner of the current Grants to States https://www.imls.gov/find funding/funding opportunities/grants to states overview program, further aided libraries in communities with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants. The funds supported book purchases and projects such as bookmobile services. Until the 1960s, though, there were no parallel funding streams for larger communities. This may have compounded other inequities. Pennsylvania libraries did not practice de jure racial discrimination as Southern libraries did https://www.umasspress.com/9781625341785/not free not for all/ . Nor did they deliberately exclude senior citizens or people with disabilities. But how they allocated resources, designed spaces, developed collections, recruited staff and engaged local residents through specialized programming favored some constituents over others. Just a few weeks ago I uncovered a November 1969 article https://palibhist.blogspot.com/2026/08/knowing better and doing better.html in the Pennsylvania Library Association bulletin that was written by Augusta A. “Gussie” Clark https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/honorable augusta clark , once a librarian and later a member of Philadelphia’s City Council. Clark wrote about how she believed white librarians in the City of Brotherly Love were failing Black children. She described the librarians’ lack of respect for Black communities, their “pained tolerance” of Black people in their midst, and an unwillingness to render extra help – all of which, she said, prevented Black children from feeling “at home” in public libraries. Using libraries’ records, I have also found many requests from both individuals and advocacy groups asking for ramps, elevators and other alterations to century old libraries, and for additional listening and viewing equipment. In at least one case, a complaint reached the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights; it was investigated and ultimately dismissed. Libraries strive to be more inclusive Libraries in urban areas of Pennsylvania began to receive state support after the passage of Act 188 of 1961, which created a state aid https://pa gov.libguides.com/stateaidresources program for municipal as well as county libraries. It also provided additional funding to the Free Library of Philadelphia https://www.freelibrary.org/ and Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, which became Statewide Library Resource Centers. As such, they received extra funding to provide services to other libraries and customers in the state. On the national level, the Library Services and Construction Act https://www.jstor.org/stable/25697349 , which replaced the Library Services Act in 1964, did not exclude urban and populous suburban areas as the Library Services Act had. In administering the new funds, the State Library of Pennsylvania approved many proposals that extended services to underserved residents, such as Montgomery County Norristown Public Library’s outreach to public housing complexes and prisons https://palibhist.blogspot.com/2026/04/a pastor brings books to bars prisons.html , Altoona Area Public Library’s L.I.F.E. program https://palibhist.blogspot.com/2026/06/learning is for everyone altoonas.html for people with intellectual disabilities, and Cumberland County Library System’s STAR service https://palibhist.blogspot.com/2026/05/a 40 year commitment to seniors.html for homebound senior citizens. In the following decades, libraries continued to strive to become more accessible. In the 1990s the Library Services and Technology Act https://www.imls.gov/find funding/funding opportunities/grants to states/purpose and priorities of lsta and state efforts such as Gov. Tom Ridge’s https://www.nga.org/governor/tom ridge/ Link to Learn https://klnpa statelibrary pa.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01SSHELCO STLIBPA/9db8rh/alma9910944216803572 initiative addressed the digital divide between communities that had computers and internet connections and those that did not. It provided grants for libraries to acquire needed upgrades. Thirty years later, there are still some places in Pennsylvania, especially in rural and mountainous areas, that don’t have broadband. However, that number shrinks each year https://broadband.pa.gov/maps data/ thanks to federal and state efforts https://broadband.pa.gov/shapiro administration plan to drive out more than 711 million to connect every pennsylvanian to high speed internet approved by ntia/ to build infrastructure in communities that corporate entities have neglected. Role of librarians today Some commentators https://www.aei.org/politics and public opinion/if libraries are about finding the truth lets be honest about their decline/ argue that the internet, online databases and AI have replaced the need for public libraries and professional librarians. But a lot of information and recreational reading material is locked behind paywalls that Google and chatbots cannot circumvent. Librarians today continue to play a crucial role in ensuring that resources remain available to the “largest number, at the least cost,” as American librarian Melvil Dewey articulated https://www.libraryjournal.com/story/editorial deweys ala motto still works fine more than a century ago. The Pennsylvania Library Association has found that for every $1 in tax investment, libraries return $5.50 in benefits https://www.palibraries.org/library roi/ . This is largely by acquiring materials at discounts and enabling library customers to share and reuse them. Working in today’s libraries can require substantial courage, too, given current censorship trends in public libraries https://pen.org/report/out of circulation/ , including book bans https://www.ala.org/bbooks/book ban data . Requests to remove titles, or reshelve them in less accessible areas, is nothing new. For example, I documented an example in Scranton in 1898 https://palibhist.blogspot.com/2013/08/an early incidence of library.html in which Catholic citizens urged the removal of Augusta Jane Evans Wilson’s novel “Inez: A Tale of the Alamo,” due to its negative portrayal of a priest and inaccurate descriptions of Catholic sacraments. However, current activists’ tactics are becoming more broad stroke, aggressive and even violent. The American Library Association https://www.ala.org/advocacy/adverse legislation states and EveryLibrary https://www.everylibrary.org/billtracking , a library advocacy group, have noted bills in various states that propose jailing library employees for the materials their institutions contain. There do not seem to be any bills presently of concern in Pennsylvania. But news reports about other book challenges and bans in Pennsylvania, especially in school libraries https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/23/us/pennsylvania school book ban reversed , regularly show up in my inbox and social media feeds.
Samantha Hull, a high school librarian in Lancaster, Pa., holds three books in 2022 that touch on gender identity or racism that were removed from shelves at her school. Hull has been active in the fight against book bans. Kyle Grantham for The Washington Post via Getty Images When you view the centuries long history of American librarianship through a Pennsylvania lens, it’s more complex, nuanced and fascinating than many people realize. And while today’s libraries face various challenges, I believe they continue to contribute enormously to residents across the entire state. Read more of our stories about Philadelphia and Pennsylvania https://theconversation.com/us/philadelphia pennsylvania news , or sign up for our Philadelphia newsletter on Substack https://tcphilly.substack.com/ .
Bernadette A. Lear is a member of the American Library Association and the Pennsylvania Library Association.