The Woman’s Library: a quiet revolution in New York City history
Sandra Roff’s article A Room of Her Own: The Woman’s Library, a Footnote to New York City History, published in 2014, traces the history of a revolutionary and controversial idea: a library for working women in New York City. Roff argues that the idea of a woman’s library was controversial since “[t]he sphere of women in the nineteenth century was highly restrictive, with the ‘cult of domesticity’ the accepted order of behavior for the female sex” (Roff 451).
On January 2, 1830, Cornelius Blatchy, a New York physician, wrote a letter to the editor of the Working Man’s Advocate, a trade journal. In his letter, Blatchly posed the question, “Why are the minds of one half of mankind disregarded and neglected?” and argued that, “… every person may readily perceive the necessity there is of having the minds and hearts of females cultivated and stored with useful knowledge”. He concluded, “…philanthropists, male and female, should seriously take the weight of this subject upon themselves; and should assemble, associate, and institute a library, peculiarly adapted for the improvement of the minds and hearts of females; many of whom feel themselves unpleasantly disregarded and neglected” (Foner 158). This is the oldest known source that addresses the issue of the need for a women’s library in New York City. However, working women were not specifically addressed in Blatchly’s letter. This is not surprising since “industrialization and the influx of immigrants to the city were still in the future” (Roff 457) and women were expected to abide in the domestic sphere.
Women and girls began to enter the workforce in the mid-nineteenth century in New England and New York. While the female workers in rural New England were protected by factory owners and matrons of company housing, those who worked in urban New York City did not experience this parental responsibility and sense of personal safety, since “the lure of large profits and a competitive market took precedence over the individual, and the work of women just became a means to an end” (Roff 452). Women worked long hours for low wages and had “limited resources available for her to challenge her mind” (452). In contrast, working men in New York City could visit men-only libraries and social clubs, and had access to classes in philosophy, physical sciences and modern languages” (453).
The 1850 U.S. Federal Census indicates that women in the northeast region who could read and write was “almost equal to that of northeastern men” (453). Working women needed a space specifically for them where they could receive cultural enlightenment during their time off from work. A few business owners provided their female employees free lending library services, but these instances were uncommon.
In 1849, the Astor Library opened to the public and “although the books did not circulate and hours were limited, it was a major resource for reference and research” (NYPL).
In the Astor Library, there was not a reading room provided exclusively for women and, although women did have access to the library, it closed at dusk. Women working long hours would not have the luxury of visiting the library before dusk and other libraries “such as the City Library were free to all but were only open until 4:00 PM” (Roff 456).
On October 26, 1858, Reverend Henry Ward Beecher and James T. Brady presented a lecture titled “Addresses on Mental Culture for Women” to an audience of New York City citizens. The meeting was “called to devise means for the establishment of a Woman’s Library” (Beecher 1). He spoke on behalf of working women and stated, “all those who manifest a desire for information shall have a chance to obtain it. Provide the material for them — good books, good papers, and good rooms of resort, and let them know that they will be welcome there” (28).
As Sandra Roff notes on page 457 of her article, “Mr. Brady went on to say: “It is the object of this meeting, to-night, through the bounty of liberal men, and the generous endeavors of kind women, to establish an institution which shall be not only a library, where instruction may be derived from excellent books, but have connected with it also a reading-room…” (Beecher 40).
Less than two years later, on August 25, 1860, the Woman’s Library, in New York City, received its charter from the legislature. The Woman’s Library, with a board of trustees, more than 3,500 volumes and a furnished space on the second floor of the building that housed New York University, became a reality (Roff 458). Here is a brief excerpt from an article that appeared in the New York Times on August 25, 1860:
The Library for Women, our readers will be glad to learn, is not longer a speculation, but a reality… thanks exclusively to the steady and intelligent efforts of the lady in whose sympathetic convictions the project had its origin, the Woman’s Library is now an established fact” (New York Times, August 1860).
The Woman’s Library was opened to the public on September 26, 1860. The New York Times printed an article on October 27, 1860 with glowing praise for the new library:
“The friends of this enterprise will be grateful to learn that it is meeting with a degree of success which far exceeds the most sanguine expectations of its projectors. The rooms are filled every day with women who desire to avail themselves of its advantages, or with those who feel interested in its success and wish to lend it their aid” (New York Times, October 1860).
Virginia Penny, author of The Employments of Women: A Cyclopedia of Woman’s Work, described the Woman’s Library in 1863. She stated:
“There is a Woman’s Library in New York. The object is to furnish women — particularly working women, who are not able to subscribe to other libraries — with a quiet and comfortable place to read in, during their leisure moments” (Penny 19).
In 1866, the Working-Women’s Protective Union assumed control of the Woman’s Library. Although the number of book volumes increased and books could be borrowed for up to two weeks, the library’s hours were shortened. This made it difficult for women who worked long hours to visit the library, as was the working woman’s plight years earlier at public libraries. By 1915, there was no record of the Woman’s Library existing any longer in New York City.
The quiet revolution made it possible for women’s intellect and thirst for knowledge to be affirmed and quenched. The technology of the book enabled mass production and cost-effective prices, thus enabling the Woman’s Library to increase their holdings to about 8,000 volumes. Through the act of reading books and articles of the day, working women became informed and found their place in society, often helping to improve conditions for women and children.
Works Cited
Foner, Philip S. “A Pioneer Proposal for a Women’s Library.” The Journal of Library History (1974–1987), vol. 13, no. 2, 1978, pp. 157–159. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/25540844.
Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library. “Exterior” The New York Public Library Digital Collections. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47dd-e4b5-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library. “Melrose Branch, women in reading room, Jan. 10, 1914.” The New York Public Library Digital Collections. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47d9-3e59-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library. “Unidentified woman reading a book.” The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1913. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e2-f86c-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library. “Women reading, April 30, 1910, Siegel-Cooper Company.” The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1910. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47da-d990-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
Penny, Virginia. The Employments of Women: A Cyclopaedia of Woman’s Work. Boston, Walker, Wise & Company, 1863.
Roff, Sandra. “A Room of Her Own: The Woman’s Library, a Footnote to New York City Library History.” Information & Culture, vol. 49, no. 4, 2014, pp. 450–468. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/43737403.
The New York Times. “The Woman’s Library.” (1860, Aug 25). New York Times (1857–1922) database.
The New York Times. The Woman’s Library. (1860, Oct 27). New York Times (1857–1922) database.
