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Title: Philadelphia Library
Description: View looking northeast at the first permanent red-brick building of the subscription library, organized by Benjamin Franklin and his Junto in 1731, built 1789-1790 after the designs of Dr. William Thornton. View includes the Benjamin Franklin statue sculpted by Francesco Lazzarini and installed in the niche above the building entrance in 1792. Also shows a man digging up the street near a pile of stones and dirt, a partial view of a horse traveling north on Fifth Street, and men standing near the building on the corner. The library sold the building 1880 and it was demolished in 1887., Title printed on mount below image., Yellow mount with rounded corners., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012.
Date: [ca. 1875]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - unidentified - Libraries [P.9058.170]

Title: [Library Company of Philadelphia, southeast corner Fifth and Chestnut streets, Philadelphia]
Description: Shows the first permanent building of the subscription library, organized by Benjamin Franklin and his Junto in 1731, built 1789-1790 after the designs of Dr. William Thornton. View includes the Benjamin Franklin statue sculpted by Francesco Lazzarini and installed in the niche above the building entrance in 1792., Half-stereographic prints including one on white paper mount with square corners., Title supplied by cataloguer., Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of views of Philadelphia., Digitization funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012.
Date: [ca. 1860]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - unidentified - Libraries [(6)1322.F.20b; P.2282.41]

Title: Library Company of Philadelphia scrapbook
Description: Scrapbook predominantly containing photographs of the interiors and exteriors of the buildings of the Library Company of Philadelphia at Fifth and Library streets (1792-1878) and Juniper and Locust streets (1880-1940). Interior views show the main reading room, the women's reading room, and the Henry C. Lea Annex (member's reading room) at the Juniper Street building. The images include shelves of books; reading tables and chairs; magazine racks; card catalogs; and paintings, photographs, manuscripts and busts and object d'arts on display. Also contains photographs and photomechanical reproductions of portraiture of early noted figures and donors to the Library Company and art and artifacts held by or associated with the repository. Additional content includes reference correspondence (1920 and 1924) between librarian George Abbot and overseas researchers studying Peter Collinson and an April 8, 1834 newspaper clipping reporting the Library Company's receipt of the book collection of the late James Cox "Artist and Bibliomaniac" accompanied by his autograph (John McAllister label pasted on verso)., Portraits depict Rev. Samuel Preston (1756-1834); optician Joseph Fisher (d. 1864); library director Dr. Thomas Parke (1749-1835); "library director 1825-1840" Benjamin R. Morgan (1765-1840); and Library Company purchasing agent Peter Collinson (1694-1768). Artifacts include the "Lion's Mouth" tin suggestion box (ca. 1850); the candle lantern from the entrance of the original library building (pre-1791); "old playing cards used as washers for Franklin's electrical machine" (1740s); William Penn's secretary desk (ca. 1680); John Penn's air pump case for electrical instruments (1738-1739); and the anti-slavery painting "Liberty Displaying the Arts and Sciences" given to the library by its artist Samuel Jennings in 1792., Title supplied by cataloger., Bookplate of the Library Company dated October 9, 1934 pasted on inside front cover., Some contents identified from manuscript notes on rectos and versos of scrapbook pages., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Housed in phase box., Select link above to access the website "Art & Artifacts. Discover the Library Company’s Art and Artifact Collection.", The Library Company of Philadelphia, America’s first successful lending library and oldest cultural institution, was founded in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin as a subscription library supported by its shareholders. Until the 1850s it was the largest public library in America. It was transformed into a research library in the 1950s.
Creator: Library Company of Philadelphia
Date: 1818-ca. 1934, bulk 1920-1930
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department albums - Library [Uy8 7065.Q], http://www.librarycompany.org/artifacts/

Title: Mercantile Library
Description: Views showing the library built 1844-45 after the designs of William Johnston at 125 South Fifth Street. Demolished circa 1925. Image includes the Library Company of Philadelphia, a partial view of Philadelphia Dispensary, four horse-drawn carriages, and the block of Fifth Street between Market and Chestnut streets in the background., Yellow mounts, including two with rounded and one with square corners., Title from labels on versos of P.9260.9 and P.9573.14., One of images originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of views of Philadelphia., Digitization funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Bartlett & French was a partnership between Philadelphia photographers George O. Bartlett and William French circa 1867-1868.
Creator: Bartlett & French, photographer
Date: ca. 1868
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - Bartlett & French - Libraries [(8)1322.F.5f; P.9260.9; P.9573.14]

Title: Library Company of Philadelphia scrapbook
Description: Scrapbook containing newspaper clippings, photographs, ephemera and prints predominantly issued between the 1930s and 1970s documenting exhibitions, loans, collections, events and the history of the Library Company. Clippings include newspaper articles about a loan of American political cartoons to the Toledo Museum (1936); exhibitions commemorating the centenary of librettist W.S. Gilbert (1936); the tercentenary of Swedish Settlement (1938); and the library's African American history collection (1971). Columns also describe the presentation of the Christopher Sower library (1909); the return in 1876 of a book 99 years overdue since the American Revolution (1938); the demolition of the Library's Juniper and Locust streets building for a parking lot (1939); and the vandalism of the former Ridgway Building at 901-933 Broad Street (1969). Photographs predominantly depict the exteriors and reading rooms of the library buildings at Fifth and Library Streets, Juniper and Locust Streets, and Broad Street (Ridgway Building). Other photographs include a series of views from the 1939 unveiling ceremony of the James Logan memorial (to be erected in Fairmount Park) on the steps of the Ridgway Branch. Ephemera includes invitations (several from The Women's Committee), brochures, catalogs, announcements and placards related to library events; bulletins and pamphlets describing collections; dues notices and book plates; the variant 1884 and 1906 "Rules of the Library Company"; an off-print of the 1882 Louise Stockton entry in "A Sylvan City..." about "The Old Philadelphia Library"; and a 1961 citation from the city recognizing the library as a "Philadelphia first.", Title supplied by cataloger., Cut outs of the seal and motto of Library Company from bookplate pasted on title page., Some contents annotated with dates and typewritten descriptions., Several loose photographs removed and rehoused as "Library Company of Philadelphia Scrapbook Photographs Collection" [P.2010.17]. Contains a ca. 1865 portrait of library donor John A. McAllister misidentified as librarian Lloyd P. Smith, a ca. 1935 portrait of librarian George Abbot, and interior and exterior views of the library buildings, including artifacts, at Fifth and Library Streets, Juniper and Locust Streets, and Broad Street (Ridgway Building)., Cataloging funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022., Typewritten index inserted in volume., The Library Company of Philadelphia, America’s first successful lending library and oldest cultural institution, was founded in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin as a subscription library supported by its shareholders. Until the 1850s it was the largest public library in America. It was transformed into a research library in the 1950s.
Creator: Library Company of Philadelphia
Date: [ca. 1865-ca. 1971, bulk ca. 1936-ca. 1945]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department *albums (flat) [P.2010.17], Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Library Company of Philadelphia Scrapbook Photographs Collection [P.2010.17]

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