A History of the American Public Library

A visual exploration of how a critical piece of social infrastructure came to be.

Editor’s note: This month, CityLab’s visual storyteller Ariel Aberg-Riger shares the story of how America’s public libraries came to be, and their uneven history of serving all who need them.

Further Reading:

• “The State of America’s Libraries, 2018,” American Library Association
• “To Restore Civil Society, Start with the Library,” New York Times
• “Outrage: Our Libraries Are Not Failing Us, We Are Failing Them,” Architectural Review
• “America’s Public Libraries: A Democratizing, Positive Product of Our Communities,” Columbia University
• “A History of US Public Libraries,” Digital Public Library of America
• “Part of Our Lives: A People’s History of the American Public Library,” (Book)
• “In the City’s Poorest Neighborhoods Libraries Close Earlier and More Often,” The Inquirer
• “Desegregating Libraries in the American South,” American Libraries Magazine
• “Quiet Pioneers, Black Women Public Librarians in the Segregated South,” Vitae Scholasticae
• “A History of GFWC Clubs Establishing and Supporting Public Libraries,” GFWC
• “Founding Mothers: The Contribution of Women’s Organizations to Public Library Development in the United States,” University of Chicago Press   
• “A Portfolio of Carnegie Libraries 1907,” University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign