Benjamin Franklin was a librarian. In 1731, he and a group of fellow intellectuals in Philadelphia founded the Library Company of Philadelphia, the first subscription library in the United States. Franklin served as the company's librarian for many years and donated many books from his personal collection to the library. The Library Company of Philadelphia played an essential role in the cultural and intellectual life of the city, and it served as a model for many other libraries that were established in the United States in the following years.
The Library Company of Philadelphia's website provides a brief history of the organization, including its founding by Franklin and others in 1731: https://librarycompany.org/about/history/
The Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary website, created to commemorate the 300th anniversary of Franklin's birth, includes a section on Franklin's contributions to the development of libraries in America: https://www.benfranklin300.org/frankliniana/result.php?id=178
The National Endowment for the Humanities' EDSITEment website includes a lesson plan on Franklin's involvement in the establishment of the Library Company of Philadelphia: https://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/benjamin-franklin-and-library-company-philadelphia
The University of Pennsylvania Libraries website has a page on the Library Company of Philadelphia, with information on its history and holdings: https://www.library.upenn.edu/about/programmatic-units/library-company-philadelphia
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