This list includes libraries located in Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

, Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

, active in the 19th century. Included are reading-rooms, circulating libraries, subscription libraries

Subscription library

A subscription library is a library that is financed by private funds either from membership fees or endowments...

, public libraries, academic libraries

Academic library

An academic library is a library that is attached to academic institutions above the secondary level, serving the teaching and research needs of students and staff...

, medical libraries

Medical library

A health or medical library is designed to assist physicians, health professionals, students, patients, consumers and medical researchers in finding health and scientific information to improve, update, assess or evaluate health care. Medical libraries are typically found in hospitals, medical...

, children's libraries, church libraries, and government libraries.

A

• Adjutant-General's Library
• Almshouse Library
• American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
  
   Library
• American Baptist Union Library
• American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
  American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
  The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was the first American Christian foreign mission agency. It was proposed in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College and officially chartered in 1812. In 1961 it merged with other societies to form the United Church Board for World...
  
   Library, Mission House, Pemberton Square
  Pemberton Square (Boston)
  Pemberton Square in the Government Center area of Boston, Massachusetts, was developed by P.T. Jackson in 1835 as an architecturally uniform mixed-use enclave surrounding a small park. In the mid-19th century both private residences and businesses dwelt there...
  
  
• American Institute of Instruction Library
• American Peace Society Library
• American Statistical Association
  American Statistical Association
  The American Statistical Association , is the main professional US organization for statisticians and related professions. It was founded in Boston, Massachusetts on November 27, 1839, and is the second oldest, continuously operating professional society in the United States...
  
   Library
• American Unitarian Association
• Mary Ashley, no.124 Charles St.
• Asylum and Farm School Library

B

• Backup's Circulating Library
• Luke Baker's circulating library, no.69 Court St.
• Berkeley Circulating Library
• Bigelow School Library
• Bixby's Circulating Library; L.W. Bixby, Washington St.
• William Pinson Blake and Lemuel Blake, circulating library at the Boston Book-Store, no.1, Cornhill
• Board of Trade Library
• Boston and Albany Railroad
  Boston and Albany Railroad
  The Boston and Albany Railroad was a railroad connecting Boston, Massachusetts to Albany, New York, later becoming part of the New York Central Railroad system, Conrail and CSX. The line is used by CSX for freight...
  
   Library (est.1868)
• Boston Art Club
  Boston Art Club
  The Boston Art Club, Boston, Massachusetts, for nearly 157 years, serves as a nexus for Members and non Members to access the world of Fine Art. Currently more than 250 members maintain an active environment for the support and promotion of these works....
  
   Library
• Boston Athenaeum
• Boston Circulating Library, no.3 School St.; E. Penniman Jr.; no.5 Cornhill-Square
• Boston City Hospital Library
• Boston College
  Boston College
  Boston College is a private Jesuit research university located in the village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA. The main campus is bisected by the border between the cities of Boston and Newton. It has 9,200 full-time undergraduates and 4,000 graduate students. Its name reflects its early...
  
   Library
• Boston Library Society
  Boston Library Society
  The Boston Library Society was a subscription library established in 1792 in Boston, Massachusetts. Incorporated in 1794, it was open to anyone able to pay the fee...
  
  
• Boston Lunatic Hospital Library
• Boston Medical Library (1805-1826)
  Boston Medical Library (1805-1826)
  The Boston Medical Library in Boston, Massachusetts, "was founded by doctors John C. Warren and James Jackson." In 1826 the library was transferred to the Boston Athenaeum.-External links:* "." Exhibition held at Countway Library of Medicine....
  
  
• Boston Medical Library
  Boston Medical Library
  The Boston Medical Library of Boston, Massachusetts, which evolved into the "largest academic medical library in the world," was originally organized to alleviate the problem that had emerged due to the scattered distribution of medical texts throughout the city.-Early History:In 1875, the Society...
  
   (est. 1875)
• Boston Public Library
  Boston Public Library
  The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was the first publicly supported municipal library in the United States, the first large library open to the public in the United States, and the first public library to allow people to...
  
  
• Boston Society for Medical Improvement
• Boston Society of Natural History
  Boston Society of Natural History
  The Boston Society of Natural History in Boston, Massachusetts, was an organization dedicated to the study and promotion of natural history. It published a scholarly journal and established a museum. In its first few decades, the society occupied several successive locations in Boston's Financial...
  
   Library
• Boston Society of the New Jerusalem Church Library
• Boston Theological Library
• Boston Turnverein Library
• Boston University
  Boston University
  Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
  
  
  • Boston University Library
  • Boston University School of Medicine Library
  • Boston University Theological Library
• Boston Young Men's Christian Union Library, no.20 Boylston
• Bowditch Library
• Bowdoin Literary Association
• Boylston Library
• Brattle Square Church
  Brattle Street Church
  The Brattle Street Church was a Congregational and Unitarian church on Brattle Street in Boston, Massachusetts.- Brief history :...
  
   Library
• Broadway Circulating Library
• Bromfield Street Church Library
• Eliza Brown, circulating library
• Bulfinch Place Chapel Library
• Burnham & Bros., no.60 Cornhill; Thomas Burnham, Perry Burnham
• Kezia Butler, no.82 Newbury Street

C

• Campbell's Circulating Library
• Carney Hospital Library
• Carter's Circulating Library
• Callender's Library, School St.; also known as the Shakespeare Library; Charles Callender, H.G. Callender
• Charlestown High School Library
• Christ Church
  Old North Church
  Old North Church , at 193 Salem Street, in the North End of Boston, is the location from which the famous "One if by land, and two if by sea" signal is said to have been sent...
  
   Library
• Christian Unity Library
• Church Home for Orphans Library
• Church of the Advent Library
• City Point Circulating Library
• Clarendon Library, Clarendon St.
• W.B. Clarke's circulating library
• Columbian Circulating Library, no.43 Cornhill
• Columbian Social Library (est.1813), Boylston Hall
• Comer's Commercial College
• Congregational Library
  Congregational Library
  The Congregational Library is located in Boston's historic Beacon Hill and was founded in 1853 with the gift of 56 books from its owners' personal collections...
  
  , corner of Beacon and Somerset
• Consumptives' Home Library

D

• Deaf Mute Library Association
• Democratic reading room, corner Congress St. and Congress Sq.
• Dorchester Athenaeum Library
• Dramatic Fund Association
• J.H. Duclos & Bro., no.57 Warren St.

E

• East Boston Library Association
• Ministerial Library of Eliot Church

F

• Caroline Fanning
• Farrer's Circulating Library
• First Christian Church Library
• First Universalist Church Library
• Frederick Fletcher, no.55 Meridian, East Boston
• Franklin Circulating Library, no.69 Court St.
• Franklin Typographical Society Library

G

• Gate of Heaven Church Library
• Library of the General Court
• General Theological Library (est.1860); no.12 West St.
• Gill's Circulating Library
• Good Samaritan Church Library
• Grand Lodge of Masons Library
• Grant & Brown, no.873 Washington St.
• Guild Library of Church of the Advent

H

• Halliday's Circulating Library, West St.
• Hancock Library, 42 Hancock; A. Boyden
• Handel and Haydn Library
• Harvard Chapel Library
• Harvard Musical Library
• Medical College of Harvard University Library
• C.W. Holbrook's circulating library; no.88 Dover
• Holy Trinity Church Library
• Home for Aged Women Library
• House of Correction Library
• House of Industry Library
• House of Reformation Library

J

• Jamaica Plain Circulating Library
• Joy Street Baptist Church Library

K

• Keating's Circulating Library; no.1027 Washington St.
• King's Chapel Library

L

• Ladies Circulating Library, Washington St.; N. Nutting, proprietor
• Lawrence Association Library
• R.L. Learned's circulating library, Tremont St.
• Lincoln School Library
• Lindsay's Circulating Library; George W. Lindsey, Washington St.
• Liscomb's Circulating Library
• Loring's Circulating Library; Loring's Select Library, Washington St.; A.K. Loring
• A.F. Low's circulating library, Meridian St.
• Lowe's Circulating Library

M

• Marine Board of Underwriters' Library
• Mariners' Exchange reading room, no.1 Lewis
• Mariner's House
  Mariner's House
  Mariner's House is a historic hotel at 11 North Square in Boston, Massachusetts.It was built in 1847 by the Boston Port and Seamen's Aid Society as an inexpensive hotel for merchant mariners on active duty. It maintains that role today...
  
  , North Square
• Thomas Marsh's circulating library, Beach St.
• Massachusetts College of Pharmacy
• Massachusetts Historical Society
  Massachusetts Historical Society
  The Massachusetts Historical Society is a major historical archive specializing in early American, Massachusetts, and New England history...
  
  
• Massachusetts Horticultural Society
  Massachusetts Horticultural Society
  The Massachusetts Horticultural Society, sometimes abbreviated to MassHort, is an American horticultural society based in Massachusetts. It describes itself as the oldest, formally-organized horticultural institution in the United States...
  
   Library
• Massachusetts Hospital
• Massachusetts New Church Union Library
• Massachusetts School for Idiotic and Feeble-minded Youth
• Massachusetts Society for Promotion of Agriculture
• Massachusetts State Library
• Massachusetts State Prison Library
• Massachusetts Teachers' Association
• Massachusetts Total Abstinence Society Library
• Mayhew and Baker's Juvenile Circulating Library, no.208 Washington St.
• McGrath's Circulating Library
• Mechanic Apprentices Library Association
  Mechanic Apprentices Library Association (Boston, Massachusetts)
  The Mechanic Apprentices Library Association of Boston, Massachusetts, functioned as "a club of young apprentices to mechanics and manufacturers .....
  
  
• J.O. Mendum's circulating library, Tremont St.
• Mercantile Library Association
  Mercantile Library Association (Boston, Massachusetts)
  The Mercantile Library Association of Boston was an organization dedicated to operating a subscription library, reading room and lecture series. Members included James T. Fields and Edwin Percy Whipple...
  
   Library
• Merchants Exchange reading room, Merchants Exchange building
  Merchants Exchange (Boston, Massachusetts)
  The Merchants Exchange building in Boston, Massachusetts was built in 1841 from a design by architect Isaiah Rogers. Centrally located on State Street, it functioned as a hub for business activities in the city.- History :...
  
  , State St.; "basement, Old State House"
• Merrill's Circulating Library; C.H. Merrill, no.1575 Washington St.
• Methodist Episcopal Church Library
• Catherine Moore's circulating library, no.436 Washington St.
• Mount Vernon Church
  Mount Vernon Church, Boston
  Mount Vernon Church in Boston, Massachusetts, was a Congregational church located on Beacon Hill and later in Back Bay .-Beacon Hill, 1844-1891:...
  
   Library
• Mount Vernon School for Young Ladies
• Munroe & Francis, juvenile library, no.4 Cornhill
• Musical Society Library

N

• New England Conservatory of Music
  New England Conservatory of Music
  The New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, is the oldest independent school of music in the United States.The conservatory is home each year to 750 students pursuing undergraduate and graduate studies along with 1400 more in its Preparatory School as well as the School of...
  
   Library
• New England Female Medical College
• New England Historic Genealogical Society
  New England Historic Genealogical Society
  The New England Historic Genealogical Society is the oldest and largest genealogical society in the United States, founded in 1845. A charitable, nonprofit educational institution, NEHGS is located at 99-101 Newbury Street, in Boston, Massachusetts, in an eight-story archive and research center....
  
  
• New England Hospital
  New England Hospital for Women and Children
  New England Hospital for Women and Children was opened in Boston, Massachusetts on July 1, 1862 by Dr. Marie Zakrzewska and Ednah Dow Cheney. The Hospital remained dedicated to women and children until the 1950s when it became financially deficient and after recommendations from the United...
  
   Library
• New England Methodist Historical Society
• Norcross School Library
• North End Circulating Library, no.123 Hanover St.; Thomas Hiller Jr.
• Notre Dame Academy Library

O

• Odd Fellows
  Odd Fellows
  Odd Fellows is a name broadly referring to any of a large number of friendly societies, fraternal and service organizations and/or Lodges.-Societies using the name "Odd Fellows" or variations:...
  
  ' Library
• Old Colony Chapel Library
• Osgood's Circulating Library

P

• Paine's Circulating Library
• Samuel H. Parker
  Samuel H. Parker
  Samuel Hale Parker was a publisher and bookseller in 19th-century Boston, Massachusetts, United States. He published musical scores as well as novels, sermons, and other titles...
  
  's circulating library
• H.B. Payne & Co.'s circulating library
• Elizabeth Peabody
  Elizabeth Peabody
  Elizabeth Palmer Peabody was an American educator who opened the first English-language kindergarten in the United States. Long before most educators, Peabody embraced the premise that children's play has intrinsic developmental and educational value.-Biography:Peabody was born in Billerica,...
  
  's foreign circulating library, no.13 West St.
• William Pelham
  William Pelham (bookseller)
  William Pelham was a bookseller and publisher in Boston, Massachusetts, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He kept a shop and circulating subscription library at no.59 Cornhill, 1796-1810.-Biography:...
  
  's circulating library, no.59 Cornhill
• Penitent Female Refuge Society Library
• F.W. Perkins' circulating library
• Library of Perkins Institution for the Blind
• Pioneer Circulating Library
• Prince Library

Q

• Quinn's Circulating Library

R

• Lydia Reed
• Republican Institution
• Republican Reading Room, Bromfield St.
• E.R. Rich & Son; no.477 West Broadway
• Roxbury Athenaeum Library
• Roxbury High School Library

S

• Sage's Circulating Library; William Sage, no.371 Tremont
• Sailors Home Library
• School of Technology Library
• Second Methodist Church Library
• W.F. & M.H. Shattuck, no.106 Main
• Shawmut Avenue Baptist Church Library
• Shawmut Mission Library
• Social Law Library
  Social Law Library
  The Social Law Library, founded in 1804, is one of the oldest law libraries in the United States. It is located in the John Adams Courthouse at Pemberton Square in Boston, Massachusetts, the same building which houses the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and the Massachusetts Appeals...
  
  
• Society to Encourage Studies at Home
  Society to Encourage Studies at Home
  The Society to Encourage Studies at Home was the first correspondence school in the United States. It was founded in Boston, Massachusetts by Anna Eliot Ticknor.-History:...
  
  
• South End Circulating Library
• Mary Sprague's circulating library, no.9 Milk St.
• St. Francis de Sales Church Library
• St. Joseph Circulating Library
• St. Mary's Young Men's Sodality Library
• St. Stephen's Church Library
• State Agricultural Library
• Stoughton Street Church Library
• Suffolk Circulating Library; corner of Court and Brattle St.; N.S. Simpkins
  Nathaniel Stone Simpkins
  Nathaniel Stone Simpkins was a bookseller, publisher, and legislator in Massachusetts in the 19th century. He ran a bookshop and circulating library in Boston ca.1820-1830. "In 1835 he established the Barnstable Journal [of Barnstable, Massachusetts], and in 1856 he established the Yarmouth...
  
  , J. Simpkins
• Sumner library, no.6 Winthrop block, East Boston

T

• Teuthorn's Circulating Library; Julius Teuthorn, no.10 Beach
• George Ticknor
  George Ticknor
  George Ticknor was an American academician and Hispanist, specializing in the subject areas of languages and literature. He is known for his scholarly work on the history and criticism of Spanish literature....
  
  's private library, no.8 Park St.
  Amory-Ticknor House
  The Amory-Ticknor House in Boston, Massachusetts was built in 1804 by businessman Thomas Amory, and later owned by scholar George Ticknor. It sits atop Beacon Hill, across from the Massachusetts State House on Beacon Street and the Boston Common on Park Street...
  
  
• Toll-Gate Circulating Library, no.665 East Broadway
• D.A. Tompkins, no.127 Hanover St.
• Treadwell Library, Massachusetts General Hospital
  Massachusetts General Hospital
  Massachusetts General Hospital is a teaching hospital and biomedical research facility in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts...
  
  

U

• Union Circulating Library, no.4 Cornhill, corner of Water St.; William Blagrove
  William Blagrove
  William Blagrove was a bookseller, publisher and librarian in Boston, Massachusetts, in the early 19th century. He ran the Union Circulating Library, a subscription library, from 1804 through 1811; it was located on School Street...
  
  
• Union Mission Church Library
• Unitarian Association
  Unitarian Universalist Association
  Unitarian Universalist Association , in full the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations in North America, is a liberal religious association of Unitarian Universalist congregations formed by the consolidation in 1961 of the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of...
  
   Library
• S.R. Urbino, foreign circulating library

V

• Village Church Library
• Vine Street Congregational Church Library

W

• Walker's Circulating Library
• J.B. Walker, no.1392 Tremont
• Thomas O. Walker, no.68 Cornhill
• Warren Street Chapel Library
• Washington Circulating Library, no.38 Newbury St.
• Washington Circulating Library, no.11 School St.
• Washingtonian Home Library
• West Boston Library, Cambridge St.
• West Church Library
• West Roxbury Free library, Centre St.
• West Roxbury High School Library
• Whig reading room, no.144 Washington St.
• Winkley & Boyd's Central library
• Workingmen's Reading Room

Y

• Boston Young Men's Christian Association
  Boston Young Men's Christian Association
  The Boston Young Men's Christian Association was founded in 1851 in Boston, Massachusetts, as the first American chapter of the YMCA.- Central Branch; Huntington Ave. :...
  
   Library (YMCA), Tremont Temple
  Tremont Temple
  The Tremont Temple on 88 Tremont Street is a Baptist church in Boston, affiliated with the American Baptist Churches, USA. The existing structure opened in May 1896 and was designed by architect Clarence Blackall.-History:...
  
  
• Young Men's Christian Union
• Young Women's Christian Association
  YWCA Boston
  YWCA Boston's mission is to eliminate racism, empower women and promote peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all...
  
   (YWCA), no.68 Warrenton
• Young Men's Working Association Library

Z

• Zion Church Library

Further reading

• William Jones Rhees. Manual of public libraries, institutions, and societies: in the United States, and British provinces of North America, Volume 1. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & co., 1859. Google books
• Bacon's dictionary of Boston. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and company, 1886. Google books
• Bolton, Charles K. (Feb 1907). "Circulating Libraries in Boston, 1765-1865". Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, v.11.
• Charles K. Bolton. Social Libraries in Boston. Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, April 1909.
• Shera. Foundations of the public library: the origins of the public library movement in New England, 1629-1855. University of Chicago studies in library science, 1949. Google books

External links

• Princeton University. Davies Project. American Libraries before 1876.

See also

• List of libraries in 18th century Massachusetts