@article{7675,
  author = {Lorne D. Bruce},
  title = {Subscription Libraries for the Public in Canadian Colonies, 1775-1850},
  abstract = {This article explores the contribution and legacy of subscription libraries in relation to the development of Canadian public libraries. From 1775 to 1850 membership associations acted as public libraries dispensing educational resources and recreational reading to users on a general-community or common-interest basis. Although Canada followed familiar British and American exemplars, regional settlement, political culture, religion, and language were influential arbiters in library development. The variety, number, and collective status of subscription libraries ushered in the persistent nineteenth-century concept of the semi-private ‘public library’ administered by trustees and populated by members who voluntarily agreed to accept entry charges, annual dues, and fundraising. The collegial space provided by the subscription library fostered a greater sense of publicness in an emerging Canadian nation before 1850. It also forged numerous associative identities in localities for like-minded reading groups. Subscription library development reveals that significant attributes of post-1850 municipal public libraries were inherited from Canada's colonial library era.},
  year = {2018},
  journal = {Library & Information History},
  volume = {34},
  pages = {40-63},
  language = {English},
}