Bigelow, the most prominent supporter of the plan to merge the two libraries found support in Lewis Cass Ledyard, a member of the Tilden Board, as well as John Cadwalader, on the Astor board. Although New York City already had numerous libraries in the 19th century, almost all of them were privately funded and many charged admission or usage fees (a notable exception was Cooper Union, which opened its free reading room to the public in 1859). īoth the Astor and Lenox libraries were struggling financially. This money would sit untouched in a trust for several years, until John Bigelow, a New York attorney, and Andrew Haswell Green, both trustees of the Tilden fortune, came up with an idea to merge two of the city's largest libraries. Tilden believed that a library with citywide reach was required, and upon his death in 1886, he bequeathed the bulk of his fortune-about $2.4 million (equivalent of $78 million in 2023)-to "establish and maintain a free library and reading room in the city of New York". įormer Governor of New York and presidential candidate Samuel J. At its inception, the library charged admission and did not permit physical access to any literary items. Bibliophile and philanthropist James Lenox donated a vast collection of his Americana, art works, manuscripts, and rare books, including the first Gutenberg Bible in the New World. The library was built on Fifth Avenue, between 70th and 71st Streets, in 1877. Īn act of the New York State Legislature incorporated the Lenox Library in 1870. By 1872, the Astor Library was described in a New York Times editorial as a "major reference and research resource", but, "Popular it certainly is not, and, so greatly is it lacking in the essentials of a public library, that its stores might almost as well be under lock and key, for any access the masses of the people can get thereto". The library created was a free reference library its books were not permitted to circulate. After Astor's death in 1848, the resulting board of trustees executed the will's conditions and constructed the Astor Library in 1854 in the East Village. History The New York Public Library Main Branch during its late stage construction in 1908 with the lion statues not yet installed at the entrance Lenox copy of the Gutenberg Bible in the New York Public Library Cross-view of classical details in the Main Branch's entrance porticoĪt the behest of Joseph Cogswell, John Jacob Astor placed a codicil in his will to bequeath $400,000 (equivalent of $13.5 million in 2023) for the creation of a public library. The branch was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1965, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966, and designated a New York City Landmark in 1967. The "New York Public Library" name may also refer to its Main Branch, which is easily recognizable by its lion statues named Patience and Fortitude that sit either side of the entrance. The library, officially chartered as The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations, was developed in the 19th century, founded from an amalgamation of grass-roots libraries and social libraries of bibliophiles and the wealthy, aided by the philanthropy of the wealthiest Americans of their age. The New York Public Library also has four research libraries, which are also open to the general public. The branch libraries are open to the general public and consist of circulating libraries. The city's other two boroughs, Brooklyn and Queens, are not served by the New York Public Library system, but rather by their respective borough library systems: the Brooklyn Public Library and the Queens Public Library. The library has branches in the boroughs of the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island and affiliations with academic and professional libraries in the New York metropolitan area. It is a private, non-governmental, independently managed, nonprofit corporation operating with both private and public financing. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress and the fourth-largest public library in the world. The New York Public Library ( NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. Mellon Director of the Research Libraries
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