Central Library's 75th Anniversary Collection

The Central Library, on Philadelphia's beautiful Benjamin Franklin Parkway, was dedicated on June 2, 1927. Seventy-five years later, it is a dynamic, evolving destination where the world is at your fingertips and you can travel anywhere in time or place through books and multiple electronic media. Learn more about this collection. For advanced searching filters for this collection, please use the link "Advanced."

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Rear elevation Wood Street
Front elevation
William Pepper, M.D., L.L.D., 1843-1898, founder and president of the Free Library of Philadelphia
Art Nouveau letter opener belonging to John Ashhurst
Perforating machine from the Free Library of Philadelphia
Glue pot from the Bindery of the Free Library of Philadelphia
Silver inkstand given to John Ashhurst at the opening of the Central Library of the Free Library of Philadelphia
Art Metal desk lamp from the Central Library of the Free Library of Philadelphia
Mayor Charles F. Warwick's pen used to sign the November 11, 1895 ordinance for the maintenance and enlargement of the Free Library of Philadelphia
Engraved silver trowel with wooden box from cornerstone laying ceremony of the Central Library of the Free Library of Philadelphia
The Existing and proposed park system of Philadelphia and vicinity
Ground plan of buildings of the Great Central Sanitary Fair, Logan Square, June 1864
Undated draft of the Parkway Memorial letter. The final version, dated February 9, 1912, was presented to Mayor Blankenburg by Librarian John Thomson and Board of Trustees President Henry R. Edmunds on February 14, 1912
Map of the streets of Philadelphia, the blocks bounded by Cherry and Hamilton Streets and 18th and 22nd Streets
Sample pages from Horace Trumbauer's drawing register for the Central Library of the Free Library of Philadelphia
Ordinance of Nov. 11, 1895 tranferring all library branches to the Board of Trustees of the Free Library of Philadelphia
First floor plan, Central Building of the Free Library of Philadelphia : colored, in four sections, documenting the funding problems surrounding the 1898 loan
Letter from Andrew Carnegie to John Thomson congratulating him on securing the site of the Central Library of the Free Library of Philadelphia, November 3, 1910
Letter from Andrew Carnegie to John Thomson refusing to donate to the building of the Central Library of the Free Library of Philadelphia, April 2, 1913
Second floor plan, steel-frame version of the Central Library of the Free Library of Philadelphia, 1922