Abstract
This thesis examines the evolving educational purposes of social, juvenile, and mercantile/mechanic libraries in British North America from 1731 to 1830. Analyzing contemporary accounts about these libraries, their book catalogs, and social libraries' rules and regulations demonstrates that these institutions constructed their educational missions in response to regional attitudes towards education, republicanism, social attitudes towards children and youth, and educational reform movements. Parallels can be drawn from this work to modern ideas about the role of public libraries that explains our attitudes towards libraries in education and society today.
Advisor
Baumgartner, Kabria
Department
History
Recommended Citation
Symons, Gwenlyn, "For the General Diffusion of Knowledge: Social, Juvenile and Mercantile/Mechanic Libraries in Colonial America and the Early Republic" (2013). Senior Independent Study Theses. Paper 3785.
https://openworks.wooster.edu/independentstudy/3785
Disciplines
Library and Information Science | Social History
Publication Date
2013
Degree Granted
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type
Senior Independent Study Thesis Exemplar
© Copyright 2013 Gwenlyn Symons