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<\/a>A group of well-intentioned, philanthropic citizens donated $34,000 for what they called the Young Man\u2019s Institute. The idea was to stem the tide of violence by providing appealing, accessible and constructive alternatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The thinking, according to contemporary reports: Philadelphia was home to \u201ca large class of young persons, who, from the poverty or neglect of parents, or having none to care for them, have very little opportunity\u201d for formal education. \u201cCommon labor or the workshop claims all their time. They grow up in the vigor of youth and manhood with little moral or social restraint.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And so, \u201ctheir evenings are given to the streets.\u201d They \u201cfrequent the ever open groggeries, drinking saloons, beer shops and other places\u201d and are \u201ctempted to occupy their leisure moments in worse than idleness\u2026\u201d They \u201cdescend step by step until they are irretrievably ruined.\u201d What might be done \u201cto rescue from the streets and from the downward career of vice, profanity, and ruin, many of these idle and vagrant boys?\u201d Leaders of the Young Man\u2019s Institute considered the Apprentices Library as a potential model. Since 1820, this institution promoted \u201corderly and virtuous habits\u201d as well as \u201cthe desire for knowledge\u201d to \u201cadvance the prosperity and happiness of the community.\u201d But with only one location at 5th<\/sup> and Arch Streets, the Apprentices Library<\/a> had limited impact. The Young Man\u2019s Institute would build branches where needed, in several of the city\u2019s most vulnerable and volatile sections. Collectively, they would strive to transform the city\u2019s youth and improve \u201cpublic peace and the safety of the community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n In time, branch locations would include the Moyamensing Literary Institute at 11th and Catherine, the Mechanics\u2019 Institute of Southwark at Fifth street below Washington Avenue, the West Philadelphia Institute at 39th Street above Market Street, the Kensington Literary Institute at Front Street and Girard Avenue and the Spring Garden Institute<\/a> at Broad and Spring Garden Streets. Branch locations also included the Philadelphia City Institute at 18th<\/sup> and Chestnut Streets, which served the western side of Center City. Together, these facilities would \u201cprovide an opportunity of developing the crushed genius and honorable ambition of the young men of poverty and toil.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n At 18th<\/sup> and Chestnut, the Philadelphia City Institute\u2019s corner-stone was set in place on May 22, 1854 and the building opened the following March. On the second story was a \u201csplendid Lecture Room, 75 by 44 feet, and a Reading Room, 40 by 38 feet.\u201d The Board of Managers had the highest of hopes imagining that \u201cfuture Franklins, Rittenhouses, Fultons, and Awkrights [sic] may date their fortunes and their fame on the day they first entered our library.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n From the start, free access was universal. \u201cEvery man over 14 years of age is admitted. . . without charge, on a certificate of good character and inability to pay.\u201d The reading room opened every evening at 6pm, and remained open until 10pm, every day except Sunday, all year round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Books were arranged in categories: history, biography, arts, mechanics, voyages and travels, and literature, augmented by \u201ca well-selected Library for reference and circulation.\u201d Books were \u201cin open cases unobstructed by wire netting or wooden fences\u201d as in other libraries. Readers had \u201cfree access to the books and the valuable privilege of selecting books which they desire to examine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n At first, the Philadelphia City Institute offered 832 books and attracted an average of twelve readers per day. Rapid growth ensued and in the final years of the 19th<\/sup> century, the library had more than 15,000 books and accommodated an average of more than 360 readers per day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to the library and from the start, the Philadelphia City Institute offered \u201ca course of Lectures on useful knowledge and general literature\u201d as well as classes in other categories. Weekly lectures and a free night school launched the first year with popular topics featuring \u201cEvils of Our Times\u201d presented by Philadelphia\u2019s Mayor, Richard Vaux. Other lectures included \u201cYoung America,\u201d \u201cTendencies of Modern Science,\u201d \u201cCulture of the Beautiful,\u201d \u201cWilliam Penn and the Holy Experiment,\u201d and \u201cEducation, Intelligence, and Morality, the Pillars of Freedom.\u201d To take stock of the entire project, lectures included \u201cthe City Institute and Its Results.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n But, according to the annual reports, lectures \u201cfailed to draw audiences of the class of persons intended to be reached\u2014young workingmen.\u201d For a time, music was added on Saturday evenings. and while these concerts attracted \u201cimmense crowds of boys of all ages\u201d many were \u201croughs\u2019 of the streets\u201d and \u201cbecame troublesome\u201d to both the Institute and its neighborhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n About the same time, the Managers considered the possibility of adding a \u201cSmoking Room\u201d with games as a possible popular attraction. But upon further consideration they concluded the \u201cexcessive abuse of tobacco already prevalent with the young\u201d and concluded it was neither \u201cexpedient or proper to add any inducement of that kind in the Institute.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n What did<\/em> work, starting in the early 1870s, was a \u201cnight school for females whose education had been neglected.\u201d This 17-week curriculum \u201copened \u2026 with marked success.\u201d More than 100 attended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Institute continued at 18th and Chestnut until 1923, at which point the building was sold and the collection moved to West Rittenhouse Square. In the mid-1940s it joined with the Free Library of Philadelphia.\u00a0And in 1956, the Philadelphia City Institute<\/a> moved again, this time to 1905 Locust Street, where remains to this day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe claim to be the freest library in the world,\u201d rightly bragged the Philadelphia City Institute in its vintage annual reports, \u201ca fountain of intellectual refreshment, never stagnant, never stinted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n [Sources: Michael Feldberg, \u201cUrbanization as a Cause of Violence: Philadelphia as a Test Case,\u201d in The Peoples of Philadelphia, (Temple University Press, 1973); John Richard Uberti. Men, Manners and Machines: The Young Man\u2019s Institute in Antebellum Philadelphia, <\/em>(University of Pennsylvania dissertation, 1977); Philadelphia City Institute Records 1852-1999. The Historical Society of Pennsylvania Collection #3023 PDF<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An Appeal in Behalf of the Philadelphia City Institute, For Improvement of Young Men<\/em>. (Philadelphia: inquirer Book Press), 1855; First Annual Report of the Managers of the Philadelphia City Institute.<\/em> (Philadelphia: Printed by G.T. Stockdale, 1856); Nineteenth Annual Report of the Managers of the Philadelphia City Institute<\/em> (Philadelphia: G.T. Stockdale, printer, 1871); Twenty-second Annual Report of the Managers of the Philadelphia City Institute<\/em> (Philadelphia: Mack & Braden, Book and Job Printers, 1874); Forty- First Annual Report of the Managers of the Philadelphia City Institute<\/a><\/em>, (Philadelphia: John Spence, Printer, 1893);<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPhiladelphia City Institute-To the Public,\u201d The <\/em>Philadelphia Inquirer<\/em>, June 20, 1853; \u201cGirls\u2019 Night School,\u201d The Public Ledger<\/em>, October 30 1872; \u201cOrigin of Some Local Libraries.\u201d The Philadelphia Inquirer<\/em>, April 23, 1893; \u201cThe Philadelphia City Institute,\u201d The Philadelphia Inquirer<\/em>, April 16, 1894.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/PHL-City-Institute-21407-1024-9080-upper.png\")
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