Boston Public Library history

Vattemare made yet another gift of books in 1849.

Searchable full-page and article reproductions back to the first issue on Sept 18, 1851.

In May 1852 the city council adopted the recommendations of the mayor and Edward Capen was chosen to become Boston Public Library's first librarian.

So in December 1854, the library's commissioners authorized the library to move to a new building on Boylston Street.

Designed by Charles Kirk Kirby to hold 240,000 volumes, the imposing Italianate edifice opened in 1858.

Searchable full-page and article reproductions back to the first issue on March 29, 1859.

In 1870, the library opened the East Boston branch, the first branch library in the United States.

Searchable full-page and article reproductions back to the first issue on March 4, 1872.

Eventually the library outgrew that building as well; in 1878, an examining committee recommended replacing it with a new one at another location.

On April 22, 1880, the state granted the City of Boston a lot at the corner of Dartmouth and Boylston Streets.

The deadline date was set to April 21, 1886 and at 4:18 that night the first pile was driven into the ground and the land was secured.

After several years of debate over the selection of the architects and architectural style for the new library, in 1887 the prestigious New York firm of McKim, Mead, and White was chosen to design the new library.

In 1888, Charles Follen McKim proposed a Renaissance style design based on the Bibliotheque Ste-Geneviève in Paris.

Little did they know that by the end of 1890, the total cost was projected to be $2,218,865.

In 1894 a new central building designed by architect Charles McKim was completed for the library.

McKim’s design was quoted at $1,165,955. It took fifteen years after the Massachusetts Legislature granted the City of Boston the small parcel on the corner of Boylston and Dartmouth Streets that the public was given a beautiful library on March 11, 1895.

Abbott and McKim talked for four hours on Saturday, March 19, 1897, and the meeting went so well Abbott invited him to meet with the President of the trustee board.

Searchable full-page and article reproductions back to the May 26, 1905 issue.

Partnering with the American Antiquarian Society (AAS), EBSCO provides digital access to a comprehensive collection of American periodicals published between 1684 and 1912 in fifty subject-based thematic subsets.

Founded in 1923 as Editorial Research Reports, CQ Researcher is noted for its in-depth, unbiased coverage of health, social trends, criminal justice, international affairs, education, the environment, technology and the economy.

It was used in 1954 on the centennial of the opening of the library.

Searchable page reproductions of United States newspapers from 1789-1963 and a directory of United States newspapers from 1690 to the present.

The founders of the library had indeed to venture into untried paths of municipal administration - trails which would soon be beaten by the feet of many followers." - Jesse H. Shera in Foundations of the Public Library, 1965

Architect Philip Johnson enlarged the library with an addition in 1972 and now that space has undergone a $78 million renovation.

In 1986, the National Park Service designated the McKim building as a National Historic Landmark.

The Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center at the Boston Public Library, created in 2004, is a nonprofit organization established as a public-private partnership between the Library and philanthropist Norman Leventhal.

As of 2006, the Library has had staffing and funding levels for conservation below that of its peers: the BPL's staff of two full-time conservators is significantly less than the thirty-five employed at the New York Public Library.

In fiscal year 2012, the city of Boston spent 1.26% ($27,836,648) of its budget on the library, or $43.74 per person.

In fall 2013, the city, in coordination with the library, began a renovation of the Central Library's Johnson building.

The BPL opened the first phrase of the renovation in February 2015, with a Children's Library and an area specifically designed for teenagers with a media lounge and digital lab.

The award-winning Central Library Renovation of the Boylston Street Building, approved by Mayor Martin J. Walsh as a capital city project, was completed in July 2016 and designed by William Rawn Associates, Architects, Inc.

In 2017 the Boston Public Library received joint awards from both the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the American Library Association (ALA) for the Central Library Renovation of its Johnson Building, and for the East Boston Branch.

In 2019 supporters of the library established a new philanthropic fund: The Fund for the Boston Public Library, announced by Mayor Martin J. Walsh.