Libraries

Connecticut library history has been well served by Mary L. Hart’s contribution to the State Library History Bibliography Series published by The Journal of Library History no. 8, “A Bibliography of Connecticut Library History,” 7 (July, 1972) :251-74. There are 199 items, fifty-eight relating to the collections at Yale, where Ms. Hart worked. There are sections on public libraries, special libraries, and private collectors. The list below, which includes some items not found in Ms. Hart’s bibliography, focuses on public libraries only. Among other omissions are many unpublished master’s theses on individual town libraries and on the history of library programs in Connecticut public schools. For background and context:

Ditzion, Sidney. Arsenals of a Democratic Culture: A Social History of the American Public Library Movement in New England...1850 to 1900. Chicago: American Library Association, 1947.

Shera, Jesse H. Foundations of the Public Library Movement in New England, 1629-1855. 1949; reprinted in 1965 by the Shoestring Press, Hamden.

Connecticut-focused items:

Allen, Marion E. History of the Connecticut School Library Association Hartford: the Association, 1958.

Brewster, James. “Laws of the Colony and State of Connecticut Relating to the History, Development and Evolution of the Connecticut State Library and the Office of State Librarian.” Unpublished typescript at the State Library, 1936.

Chakerian, Charles C. “Education Map 1: Distribution of Libraries by Type and Size.” Hartford: Connecticut State Planning Board, 1934. This is a useful map, but it includes no text.

Connecticut Library Association. Connecticut Library Association: Its History and Its Members. Hartford: the Association, 1947.

Dexter, Franklin B. “The First Public Library in New Haven,” Papers of the NHCHS 6 (l900) :301-14. A description of the collection left to the town in 1658 by Governor Eaton.

Fletcher, William I. “Libraries.” I:541-50 in Memorial History of Hartford County. Edited by J. H. Trumbull. Boston, 1886.

Goddard, George S. “Development of the State Library.” Connecticut Bar Journal l (October, 1927) 4:319-29. A narrative of the library’s history since its establishment in 1854, with a description and a statement of its purposes and objectives.

--“Public Libraries and Records,” in History of Connecticut in Monograaphic Form. Edited by Norris Galpin Osborn. New York, 1925, vol 4.

Harrison, Lynde. “Public Libraries in Connecticut--Branford.” Connecticut Magazine 9 (1905) 3:493-511. This is the introductory one of a series of similar articles in Connecticut Magazine on several towns. The other articles are:

David N. Camp: New Britain 9 (1905) 4:781-94.

Wallis K. Stetson: New Haven 10 (1906) 1:129-38.

Jonathan Trumbull: Norwich 10 (1906) 2:34549.

Mary M. Miller: Greenwich 10 (1906) 3:490-94.

Hilda Kilduff Gay: New London 11 (1907) 1:139-43.

Hewins, Caroline M. “The Development of the Public Library in Connecticut and the Work of the Connecticut Public Library Committee.” Connecticut Magazine 9 (1905) 1:161-84. An excellent article, with many photographs of public libraries, from modest shacks in Columbia to the lovely Kent Memorial Library in Suffield. A good historical and descriptive piece. Don’t miss the interior shots on pages 386-89.

Hooker, Martha W. “Book Lovers of 1738--One of the First Libraries in America ,“ Journal of American History 1 (1907) :177-85. A discussion of the Philogrammatician Library in Lebanon.

Lord, Virginia. Regional Library Service in Connecticut: Its History and Development. Illinois Graduate School of library Science Occasional Papers, No. 48 (Urbana, 1957).

Mitchell, Mary. “Public libraries in New Haven County,” in History of New Haven County, Connecticut. Boston: Pioneer Historical Publishing Company, 1930, pp. 537-47.

New Haven Free Public Library. The Free Public Library of New Haven, Conn., Containing a Brief History. New Haven: The Library, 1840.

Norton, Charlotte B. History of the Scoville Memorial Library. Salisbury: Lakeville Journal Press, 1941.

Sills, Malcolm R. “Beginnings of Library Service in Connecticut.” Bulletin of the Connecticut Library Association 8 (September, 1941) 3-4.

Whitney, Henry Mitchell. The Development of Public Libraries Within the Bounds of Old New Haven Colony. Connecticut Public library Document No.8 (Hartford, 1904). In addition to the historical development, Whitney includes descriptions of the libraries as they existed in 1904.