CBS 3 - Philadelphia's Source For Breaking News, Weather, Traffic and Sports: Ben Franklin: America's First Librarian
Today, information is at your fingertips with the stroke of a key.
But in Ben Franklin?s day, acquiring knowledge took a little more work.
?There were no institutions of higher education,? said Jim Green, librarian of the Library Company of Philadelphia. ?There was no way for working people like Franklin to be educated.?
Just getting a book was a challenge, Green said. Books had to be shipped to Colonial America from Europe, and were very expensive.
But, not surprisingly, the king of invention figured out a way to get the information for which he thirsted.
He and his buddies made a list of books they wanted, and pooled their money together to get them shipped over.
This, in effect, created the first American library.
However, where most library memberships today are free, it would have cost you a pretty penny to join Franklin?s library.
A membership cost two pounds, which at the time was about two weeks salary....
read the entire story here...
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
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