Originalism and the Library Company of Philadelphia

Just as the Constitution was forged at the founding of this nation, so too was the forerunner of the Library of Congress.  Library Company of Philadelphia (LCP) was co-imagined by one of the founding fathers of this nation, Benjamin Franklin.  LCP’s creators envisioned an institution which could serve an engaged public interested in access to good information (LCP, n.d.).

A publicly-accessible library was a foundational concept parallel to formation of the United States.  For some time, the Library sat in the same buildings, the Statehouse and Carpenter’s Hall, where Continental Congress met (Franklin, 1741, Library Company of Philadelphia, n.d.). The Library was founded in 1731.

Whereas Library of Congress (LOC) was initiated in 1800 by an act of Congress to purchase books to serve the legislative branch when the nation’s government moved from Philadelphia to Washington (LOC, n.d.), in July 1731, Franklin and founding members crafted Articles of Association for the subscription library (LCP, 1894).  Franklin made the collection accessible to members of Continental Congress in 1774, thus at a time predating the Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, and formal creation of a Library of Congress in Washington.

Library Company of Philadelphia is currently open to the public free of charge as a non-circulating collection.  Registration is required to use print or graphic materials.  The vision for the Library included the collection and circulation of materials beyond books.  Historically, the decision made by the Library Company to apply logic of the subscription library to all its objects, and its formalization of non-book lending in a policy, casts new light on mechanisms for self-improvement available to colonial Americans in the 18th century, writes Maria Zytaruk in the Museum History Journal (2017).

Thus, Library space in revolutionary America was innovative, expansive, and dynamic – rather than siloed and tradition-bound.  The origins of Library Company of Philadelphia paralleled the polymath nature of its founder, Franklin – and was open to experimentation, just as he traversed disciplines and vocations ranging from publishing to statesmanship to scientific experimentation.  Unlike similar models in private clubs such as the Spalding Club in England or the Fishing Company of Philadelphia, the Library Company’s collections circulated.

The LCP permitted loans to non-members for a fee and a deposit.  The agreement document between Library Company of Philadelphia and William Parsons, the librarian, also specified the mode of nominating new members.  It stipulated that “on the last Day of every Week he [the Librarian] shall attend at the Library from 4 o’clock in the Afternoon till 8, to lend out & receive in Books of the s^d Company” (Franklin et al., 1915).  The institution also loaned scientific instruments under the same conditions, again contributing to experimentation in the region of the nation’s first capital.

Dynamism characterized the Library’s collection development, and the institution’s adaptability to changing physical location.  Collegiality framed the institution.  Community service and flexibility were among the Library Company’s originalist traits.  Fluidity, rather than rigidity, facilitated the still-active institution’s successful early adaptations to changing times:  in the 18th century, its collections first resided in librarians’ homes, then on a floor of the West Wing of a State House (now Independence Hall), and then nearby at Library Hall – where it functioned as a Library to Congress before the federal government moved to Washington (Library Company of Philadelphia).  Benjamin Franklin’s 1741 account of the Library ten years after its founding observed that:

tho’ ‘tis compos’d of so many Persons of different Sects Parties and Ways of Thinking, yet no Differences relating to the Affairs of the Library, have arisen Among us; but every Thing has been conducted with great Harmony, and to general satisfaction.  Which, happy Circumstance will, we hope, always continue.

Note:  During this year of 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding, LCP is currently presenting an exhibit: “Philadelphia’s Radical Revolution, A semi sesquicentennial Exhibition,” at Library Company of Philadelphia,” May-October 2026.

Martha Lerski

References

Franklin, B. (1741). “A Short Account of the Library,” in A Catalog of Books Belonging to the Library Company of Philadelphia. Philadelphia. https://www.librarycompany.org/about/Yd96835-D-short-account-LCP.pdf?_gl=1*6k2b8b*_gcl_au*OTY1NTM5NzA0LjE3NzYwOTY1MzI.*_ga*MTE2MTg4OTQwNi4xNzc2MDk2NTMy*_ga_TZ5N7E4ZT1*czE3NzYwOTY1MzIkbzEkZzEkdDE3NzYwOTY4MzUkajYwJGwwJGgw

Franklin, B., Rawle, Wm., Cadwalader, Thos., Godfrey, Thos., Jones, J., Pratt, H., Hopkinson, Thos., Richardson, Frs., Roberts, H., Syng, P., & Coleman, Wm. (1915). Early Documents of the Library Company of Philadelphia, 1733-1734. The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 39(4), 450–453. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20086238

Library Company of Philadelphia. (1894). The original Articles of Association of the Library Company of Philadelphia. Philadelphia: Allen, Lane & Scott’s Printing House. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uiug.30112097103995

Library Company of Philadelphia – America’s oldest cultural institution, founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1731. (LCP). (n.d.). Retrieved April 11, 2026, from https://librarycompany.org/

Library Company of Philadelphia. (n.d.). Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia. Retrieved April 11, 2026, from https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/essays/library-company-of-philadelphia/

Library of Congress (n.d). History of the Library of Congress. Retrieved April 13, 2026, from https://www.loc.gov/about/history-of-the-library/

Mills, C. E. & Detroit Publishing Co, P. Benjamin Franklin opening first subscription library in Philadelphia. United States, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, None. [Between 1900 and 1912] [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2016797099/.

Zytaruk, M. (2017). America’s first circulating museum: The object collection of the Library Company of Philadelphia. Museum History Journal, 10(1), 68–82. https://doi.org/10.1080/19369816.2017.1257871