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Langhorne Library Company records
Notifications
Held at: Historic Langhorne Association [Contact Us]160 W. Maple Ave., Langhorne, PA, 19047
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Historic Langhorne Association. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
The Attleborough Library Company, renamed the Langhorne Library Company after the Langhorne Borough's incorporation in 1876, was chartered by Governor Thomas McKean in 1802. The private, subscription-based library was originally located in a small house in the center of the Bucks County, Pennsylvania village. Anna Mary Williamson, niece of noted Quaker philanthropist Isaiah Vansant Williamson, bequeathed money for a library building to accommodate the rapidly growing collection. After her death in 1887, construction began. The library was the first public building in Bucks County to have electricity.
In 1960, the Langhorne Library was renamed Langhorne-Middletown Library and the four adjacent boroughs -- Langhorne, Langhorne Manor, Penndel and Hulmeville -- joined Middletown Township to support it as a free public library. After the merger of the Langhorne-Middletown Library and Bucks County Free Library, a new building was constructed in 1971, and the library was again renamed the Pennwood Branch of the Bucks County Free Library.
As of 2012, the original 1888 library building serves as a museum and research library for the Historic Langhorne Association.
Bibliography:
Valone, Sally. "Historic Langhorne Library / Historic Langhorne Assn. Headquarters." Langhorne Ledger.
Gleeson, Kristin. Guide to the Manuscript Collections of Five Historical Organizations in Bucks County. 1986.
This collection documents the Langhorne Library over a 170-year period beginning in 1800. It includes: minute books, 1885-1966; circulation registers, 1800-1921; book catalogs and registers, 1879-1955; account books, subscription books, and financial records, 1800-1951; legal papers that include a charter (1802), a deed (1890), and a bond (1889); and miscellaneous articles, news clippings, and circulars.
Gift of Langhorne Library Association.
Summary descriptive information on this collection was compiled in 2012-2014 as part of a project conducted by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania to make better known and more accessible the largely hidden collections of small, primarily volunteer run repositories in the Philadelphia area. The Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories (HCI-PSAR) was funded by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
This is a preliminary finding aid. No physical processing, rehousing, reorganizing, or folder listing was accomplished during the HCI-PSAR project.
In some cases, more detailed inventories or finding aids may be available on-site at the repository where this collection is held; please contact Historic Langhorne Association directly for more information.
Organization
Subject
Place
- Publisher
- Historic Langhorne Association
- Finding Aid Author
- Finding aid prepared by Celia Caust-Ellenbogen and Faith Charlton through the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories
- Sponsor
- This preliminary finding aid was created as part of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories. The HCI-PSAR project was made possible by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
- Access Restrictions
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Contact Historic Langhorne Association for information about accessing this collection.