Public Library, Franklin, Indiana

 LIB512049

1954, Carnegie Library, Franklin, New Hampshire

View from the rear...

[LIB11262]

Franklin New Hampshire City Limit Sign Tshirts by city_limits
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1911 Public Library, Franklin, New Hampshire

[LIB11090] Addressed to Sadie Holmes of Salisbury, New Hampshire. Published by the Atkinson News Co., Tilton, NH. No. 406.

Carnegie Library, Franklin, New Hampshire

[LIB9738] - Mission

The Franklin Public Library provides free and equal access to information and ideas through books, programs, and other resources (including computers) to all members of the community. [Website]

Ray Memorial Library, Franklin, Massachusetts

[LIB7713] The Franklin Public Library is considered America's first public library. In 1778, when the town was incorporated, the designated name Exeter was changed to Franklin in honor of Dr. Benjamin Franklin. In return Franklin was asked to donate a bell for the town's church steeple. Acknowledging that "sense" was preferable to "sound", Dr. Franklin responded with an offer of books for the use of the town's residents. When the volumes arrived, a great controversy arose over who should be allowed to use them. On November 20th, 1790, those attending Franklin's town meeting voted to lend the books to all Franklin inhabitants free of charge. This vote established the Franklin collection as the first public library in the United States. The original Franklin collection is still housed in a book case in the library's Reading Gallery.

In 1904, the Ray Memorial Building was dedicated and the Franklin Library got a permanent building - a gift from the Ray family. That same year, the Ray family also established the Ray Memorial fund to provide for and maintain the building.

The Franklin Library Association ran the library until 1981 when the Franklin Public Library became a department of the town of Franklin. From 1987 to 1989, the Library underwent extensive restoration to maintain the original beauty and splendor of this beautiful classical Greek structure and to add a children's wing.

In 1990,  commemorate the library's bicentennial, the Franklin Public Library Bicentennial Commission published a short history of the library, "A History of America's First Public Library at Franklin Massachusetts, 1790 ~ 1990" written by John Peters and Nina C. Santoro.  Click here to read and enjoy. [Website]

Haston Library, Franklin, Vermont

[LIB6502] - Erected in 1907. Still in use as a library. Dedication of the Haston Free Public Library building, North Brookfield Mass., Sept. 20, 1894 (Google eBook)

1920 Public Library, Franklin, New Hampshire

[LIB2164] The library has been made richer through the gift of the library of Lucretia Carter Sanborn, containing much valuable historical material and books of local interest. The cataloguing of these books is not completed as yet, but will be during 1913.

This interesting collection was begun by Miss Sanborn's father, Nathaniel Herrick Sanborn, who enjoyed marked success as a merchant for 21 years, and was also the leading spirit in the Franklin Savings Bank, and its treasurer from its foundation in 1870 to the time of his death. The Sanbornton History says of him, "He was a lover of the past, well versed in ancestral and local history, and very favorable to the prosecution of this enterprise of the Sanbornton annals." The books and pamphlets so carefully treasured for many years form a valuable nucleus for a library relating to Franklin history. [Read more here]

The Sanborn descendents of Herbert Nathaniel Sanborn, 1899-1981

Franklin Library, Franklin, Massachusetts

Franklin Library, Franklin, Mass. Vintage by markomundo
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