Files
Download Full Text (6.8 MB)
Description
This letter written in 1814 by Williams D. Williamson, then postmaster in Bangor, to Rev. Jedediah Morse, preacher, pamphleteer, and geographer, of Charleston, Massachusetts, contains the earliest known reference to a library in Bangor.
The library, when opened, was called the Bangor Athenaeum. It was one of six libraries operating in Bangor in various times between 1814 and 1883 which, in the end, all merged into the Bangor Public Library, founded in 1883. In 1814 Bangor was in the District of Maine, a part of the State of Massachusetts.
The original letter and its transcription included. Also included in an April 1955 Bangor Daily News article about the Bangor Public Library's recent acquisition of the letter.
Publication Date
1814
City
Bangor, Maine
Keywords
Bangor Public Library, Bangor Public Library history, library history of Maine; library history of the United States
Recommended Citation
Williamson, William D., "The First Library in Bangor: Letter Written in 1814 Proves Existence of Earliest Known Library in Bangor" (1814). Books and Publications. 339.
https://digicom.bpl.lib.me.us/books_pubs/339
Rights Statement
No Copyright - United States. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/
The organization that has made the Item available believes that the Item is in the Public Domain under the laws of the United States, but a determination was not made as to its copyright status under the copyright laws of other countries. The Item may not be in the Public Domain under the laws of other countries. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available for more information.