Enlightenment · North America · Culture

1731

Franklin Founds the Library Company

June 25, 1731

In Philadelphia, Franklin persuaded fifty members of his Junto to pool shillings and order books from London. The Library Company became the first subscription library in the colonies. Knowledge was becoming a civic asset, circulated and returned, not hoarded. American reading habits had taken a shape they would not lose.

More from 1731 Enlightenment

In context

Also in 1731 (3 other events on record)

Sextant Independently Invented · North America · Science
Treaty of Vienna · Europe · Politics
Treaty of Ahmet Pasha · Middle East · Politics

Before and after in North America

Before: November 28, 1729: Natchez Revolt
After: February 22, 1732: George Washington Born

Before and after in Culture

Before: October 1, 1729: A Modest Proposal
After: January 1, 1732: Covent Garden Theatre Opens

Era

Enlightenment (1651–1800), one of 696 events from that era on Saeculum.