The development of social libraries in New England during the eighteenth century survived a lull during the Revolutionary War to con­tinue with renewed vigor in the 1780s. The spirit of nationalism that produced the Constitution of 1787 also fostered a general interest in educating citizens for the new republic. Both schools and social libraries were already strong traditions in Connecticut. Citizens of New Haven had discussed a town library as early as 1664, when they established the Hopkins Grammar School; by 1797 the town had several common dis­trict schools, one named after Noah Webster, who, after graduating from Yale College, had settled in New Haven to teach and to write a spelling book.

Higher education for adults was firmly established with the first building of Yale College in 1717. However, the New Englanders found industry, as well as education, a route to prosperity. By 1790 New Haven was one of the largest manufacturing towns in Connecticut; nearby was one of the first cotton cloth factories in the state. In 1798 Eli Whitney, another Yale man, grew tired of cotton-ginning and built a munitions factory about two miles from New Haven.

Feeling strongly that “the establishment of a public library in the City of New Haven, would advance useful knowledge and Literature,'' a group of men met at the State House on 5 February 1793 to read and ratify the Constitution of the Mechanic Library Society of New Haven. Evidently the Library was organized informally the year before; the original bookplate is dated 1792, and Sabin's Bibliotheca Americana lists the “Constitution of the Mechanic Library Society and Catalogue of Books” with a date of 1792. However, the earliest document extant that relates to the Library (containing the above quotation) is The Constitution and Bye-Laws of the Mechanic Library Society Of New-Haven, With a Cata­logue of Books and List of the Proprietors, printed in New Haven by Abel Morse, 1793 (available in the Readex Microprint series of Early American Imprints).

The Constitution and Bye-Laws of 1793 sets forth in detail subscription rights and rules for administration and operation of the Library, including selection and purchase of books. Supported through the sale of shares (9 shillings) and annual dues (one half dollar annually for five years, then one fourth dollar annually), the Library seems to have been a combination of the two main forms of eighteenth-century social li­braries, proprietary (joint-stock ownership) and subscription. In 1793 hours were set from 5 to 9 o'clock on Monday afternoons, when the librarian or his substitute was to be present to record all books “delivered” out and returned. Overdue fines were prescribed, and all books were to be returned by the first Mondays of January and July for an inventory of the collection.

In June 1794 the Library gained a new member, the president of Yale College, Ezra Stiles, who noted in his diary that he had bought a four-dollar share in the 430-volume library. Stiles's diary note indicates active acquisition during the Library's first year, a considerable increase over the 204 volumes listed in the Catalogue of 1793. Like the first, subsequent catalogues are alphabetical, with the addition of numbers showing that the inventories were carried out. Inventory numbers from a catalogue of about 1812 show over 900 volumes.

The bulk of the 1793 collection consisted of history, biography, travel, literature, and fiction; nine volumes could be classed as theology, and only one as science. This profile seems to have changed little as the holdings increased. The small portion of science books is rather surprising, considering the name “Mechanic” suggests an early example of the mechanics’ institutes movement, also germinating in Great Britain, where it would flourish in the next century. Apprentices’ libraries were perhaps more numerous in the Unites States, and the lyceum movement was stronger, but the New Haven society was one of the earliest organizations on either side of the Atlantic to call itself “Mechanic.”

Both of the principal conditions that motivated founders of the English institutes were present in New Haven: industry demanding new skills and a growing interest in science, both philosophical and practical. Ezra Stiles, in addition to his qualifications as lawyer, minister, linguist, and college president, was also an amateur scientist, who tried some of the first electrical experiments in New England on electrical apparatus sent to Yale by Benjamin Franklin in 1749. With the books of Yale College at his disposal, it seems unlikely that such a scholar would have cared to own stock in a mechanic library, unless perhaps its other members shared his interests.

If the bookplate shown on the cover reflects the vision of the Library’s founders, the title “Mechanic” surely represents an attempt to involve manufacturers and workingmen of New Haven in the advancement of “knowledge and Literature” and maybe a little science. The design features two muscular cherubs diligently hammering away at tongs on an anvil, under the motto “Improve the Moment,” resounding a theme of self-education for the average citizen. This industrious scene is set in a roundel surrounded by an ornate floral frame, crowned by a radiant stack of nine well-bound volumes in three graduated sizes. Originals of the plate, which measures 3 1/2 by 4 1/4 inches, are held by Yale University, the American Antiquarian Society, and the present Institute Library in New Haven. The copy on the cover is reproduced from A Treasury of Bookplates (Dover, 1977); another reproduction is in Shera’s Foundations of the Public Library (Chicago, 1949), plate XIII.

The signature identifies the artist as Amos Doolittle, a New Haven engraver known for his 1775 scene “The Battle of Lexington,” one of the first copper engravings done in New England. Doolittle’s early training as a silversmith may have inspired his design of the miniature smiths; his design of 1804 is a refinement of the more earthly scene on an earlier bookplate by an unknown artist (see next page). Doolittle, “delineator et sculptor,” designer and engraver, made silver eagles and engraved music as well as bookplates, illustrations, maps, and portraits of notable Americans, including Ezra Stiles.

Through mergers and metamorphoses, the Library has continued to the present day. In 1815 the Mechanic Library united with the Social Library Company, begun in 1808 and incorporated in 1810. Three officers named in the 1793 document are among the subscribers of the Social Library Company in 1815, a list that also includes the name of Eli Whitney. Inventory numbers from the catalogue representing the combined collections show well over 1,600 volumes, and the cherubs on the new Doolittle bookplate hold a scroll instead of hammers.

In 1826 an Apprentice’s Literary Association was started by eight young workingmen for the purposes of discussion and debate as well as keeping a library. By 1828 they called themselves the Young Mechanics’ Institute and offered classes in several subjects, such as grammar and bookkeeping. As membership grew (remaining largely working-class), lectures on politics and practical science became more popular than classes and continued into the Civil War period. Women were admitted to certain classes and lectures.

In 1840 the Institute purchased the most valuable of the books remaining in the Social Library Company and changed its name to the present corporate form; in 1841 the Young Men’s Institute Library was chartered by the General Assembly. The large circulating library (over 7,000 volumes in the mid-1850s) proved the most enduring function. The Institute Library, as it is now called, with about 250 subscribers (membership by recommendation and invitation), is located at 847 Chapel Street in the building erected by the Institute in 1878. Unfortunately, none of the original volumes remain, but a collection of over 38,000 volumes emphasizes fiction and nonfiction. The librarian, Doris K. Hendricks, kindly provided information needed for this sketch, including reproductions of the earlier (1792) bookplate now used once more by the Library. 

Beth Hogan

University of the South

Sewanee, Tennessee