The Library Company Afro-Americana Collection The Library Company has one of the most comprehensive and sought-after collections relating to African American history spanning from the 16th century to the early years of the 20th century. In the mid-1960s, when the study of African-American history became a high priority, the Library Company responded by going through its collections and identifying the Afro-Americana holdings. The result was a card file of about 10,000 titles ranging from 1553 to about 1900 and an exhibition mounted in 1969 called "Negro History, 1553-1903." "Negro History, 1553-1903" was a path-breaking event and the response was so enthusiastic to that the Library Company published a printed catalogue in 1973 that remains the standard bibliography of the field. In the twenty years that have passed since the catalogue was published, the collecting of Afro-Americana has been a high priority of the Library Company. Today the collection is a mature and complex research tool of national significance. In size and depth it has peers, but no collection is significantly stronger in its time period. Founded in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin, the Library Company of Philadelphia was the first subscription library in the country. As America's oldest cultural institution, the Library's mission today is to preserve, interpret, make available, and augment its extraordinary collections of rare books, manuscripts, and graphic works. Established by Franklin "for the advancement of knowledge and literature," the Library Company of Philadelphia is today an independent, non-profit research library of national importance with collections documenting every aspect of the history and background of American culture to the late 19th century. The Library Company is open to the public free of charge. Cassey Album: Overview | Afro-Americana | Notable Entries | Notable Art | More Information

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The Library Company of Philadelphia, 1314 Locust Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107 (215) 546-3181

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