NEW YORK’S OLDEST PUBLIC LIBRARIES

Abstract

In the nineteenth century, before the proliferation of tax‐supported libraries in the United States, the subscription library filled the reading needs of many people in the country. Now little known outside a small group of library historians and current members of these institutions, many subscription libraries flourished in the 1800s, but by the twentieth century most had disappeared, victims of lack of funds, lack of interest, or mismanagement.

Called membership libraries today, only sixteen subscription libraries are left in the United States. They continue to provide services and care for historic collections, filling a need in various cultural and social . . .