Image: Bookplates of the Amicable Library, the Association Library, and the Union Library Company (1769). | The Library Company of Philadelphia
On July 1, 1731, at the instigation of Benjamin Franklin, the founding shareholders drew up “Articles of Agreement” to establish a library. Fifty subscribers invested forty shillings each and promised to pay ten shillings a year thereafter to buy books and support operations. Thus, “the Mother of all North American Subscription Libraries”—as Franklin proudly referred to it in his Autobiography—was born.| The Library Company of Philadelphia