The American Enlightenment and the Providence Library Company: A Social History in Five Books, 1753 to 1770

Abstract

In colonial North America during the eighteenth century reading expanded in part with the founding of numerous subscription libraries. Most modeled themselves after Benjamin Franklin’s The Library Company of Philadelphia founded in 1731. Rhode Island’s Providence Library Company (PLC) founded in 1753 was one. These libraries were oases for learning.

As North American cities expanded, particularly seaports, so did their economy, culture, population, all of which fostered new ideas, some from within and many from abroad. Perhaps without realizing it, the North American colonists succeeded in an awakening, an enlightenment, an American Enlightenment. It was done under difficult circumstances as they conquered a new continent and developed their own ways to farm, care for horses, chart seas and survey land, and apply reason, logic, and experience to their understanding of freedom, property, and happiness. The American Enlightenment was unique as they adopted European ideas but forged ahead keeping to their own ideals. These North American colonists no longer passively accepted direction from the Old World. They engaged in their own betterment in their own way. Five books listed in the PLC’s 1754 and 1762 “Catalogue of Books” were examined to illustrate how their “Useful Knowledge” contributed to Providence’s economic, social, and political rise.

Disciplines

Economic History | Library and Information Science

Subject Area

American history; Library science; Economic history; Information science

Department

Humanities (HUM)

First Advisor

Budd, Michael

Second Advisor

Quinn, John

Third Advisor

O'Callaghan, Sean

Date of Award

2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

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