The Library will be closed on Monday 5/25 for Memorial Day
Appointments are required to conduct research in our reading rooms.
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Library Company Announces Plans for Semiquincentennial
The Library Company of Philadelphia, founded in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin, opened its collections to the delegates to the First Continental Congress in September 1774. At the time, its collections held virtually every significant work of political theory, history, law, and statecraft to be found in the American colonies. That privilege was extended to delegates to subsequent Congresses, the Constitutional Convention, and the early Federal Congresses while Philadelphia was the national capital until 1800. This heritage as the first, though unofficial, Library of Congress places the Library Company in a unique position to shed light on the Revolutionary era. Plans for the Semiquincentennial center on two exhibitions.
Appointments are now required to access the Scheide reading room and the Graphic Arts Department reading room.
For text materials (Scheide reading room), appointments are required. Click here to learn more.
For visual materials (Graphic Arts Department reading room), appointments are required. Click here to learn how to make an appointment.
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