The Boston Public Library is founded in…
1848 CE
Several people have been instrumental in the establishment of the Boston Public Library.
George Ticknor, a Harvard professor and trustee of the Boston Athenaeum, had raised the possibility of establishing a public library in Boston beginning as early as 1826.
At the time, Ticknor could not generate enough interest.
In 1839, Alexandre Vattemare, a Frenchman, suggested that all of Boston's libraries combine themselves into one institution for the benefit of the public.
The idea had been presented to many Boston libraries; however, most were uninterested in the idea.
At Vattemare's urging, Paris had sent gifts of books in 1843 and 1847 to assist in establishing a unified public library.
Vattemare will make yet another gift of books in 1849.
Josiah Quincy, Jr. anonymously donates five thousand dollars to begin the funding of a new library.
Quincy makes the donation while he is mayor of Boston.
Indirectly, John Jacob Astor also influences the establishment of a public library in Boston.
At the time of his death in 1848, Astor bequeaths four hundred thousand dollars to New York to establish a public library there.
Because of the cultural and economic rivalry between Boston and New York, this bequest prompts more discussion of establishing a public library in Boston, and, as a consequence, a statute of the Great and General Court of Massachusetts enables the creation of the library.
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