Part I
1755-1905
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“I
Private Collections
give to my Dear wife Blomes History
of the Bible in folio. ..and all the
Books of Physick.” So willed attorney
Edward Moseley at his death in 1749.
Moseley housed a collection of
400+ volumes between libraries at his
residence in Rocky Point and his office
in Brunswick Town.
Moseley and other book collectors
such as William Hooper, Wilmington
Revolutionary statesman and signer of
the Declaration of Independence, maintained libraries for
private use.
Volumes from both their collections are housed in
the rare book collection at the New i
Hanover County Public Library.
Church Collections
Harper !v Weekly
Ш
19th century
reading roam
From the library of
Edward Moseley
W:
Waiercolor by Clayton Giles
An artist s conception of
the colonial St. James
Church
(( T ndeed, my Lord,” the Reverend
X Richard Marsden, rector of St.
James, wrote in 1735, “it would be
a great act of charity' without delay
to supply this part of the province at
least with good books.”
In 1755, the first shipment arrived
for the St. James and St. Philips
Parishes from the English Society
for the Propagation of the Gospel in
Foreign Parts.
Religious treatises, Bibles and
prayer books made up the bulk of the collection, although
it probably included some volumes on philosophy, law,
history, literature and grammar.
An Early Lending Library
The only pre-Revolutionary circulating library in North
Carolina was the Cape Fear Library, which operated
from 1760 to 1780. Little is known about the library, but it
was probably supported by a group of educated men who
shared in the purchase of books of interest to the group.
One volume remains at the New Hanover County
Public Library: Rollins History of the Arts and Sciences of
the Ancients. The book, bound in leather, has Cape Fear
Library stamped in gold on the cover.
Reading Rooms
During the first half of the 19th century, reading rooms
established by newspapers, book stores, coffee houses
A Century
of Stories
New Hanover County Public Library
1 906-2006
and debating societies became very popular.
Borrowers paid a yearly fee for the circulation of books,
pamphlets and newspapers.
Wilmington’s first known reading room
was opened in 1808 by William Hasell,
owner of the Wilmington Gazette.
In 1833, Thomas Loring, editor of the
People's Press & Wilmington Advertiser, boasted
of having 150 newspapers from 20 states in
his reading room, which stayed open until
9:00 pm.
In 1836, William C. Jackson advertised that he would
rent volumes from his bookshop for 614 cents per week.
Literary Groups
ith the completion of the railroad in 1840 and
improved access to the port, residents arrived
from all parts of the United States as well as from other
countries.
Debating societies, also known as lyceums and
chatauquas, were in vogue. The groups provided a forum
■ for their members to read, speak,
write and debate about the scientific,
moral, religious and political issues
of the day.
First Library Association
n 1849, the Wilmington Mercantile
Library Association was created
as a club to which members paid a
yearly fee, purchased books and circulated them among
themselves.
In 1855, the club was absorbed into the Wilmington
Library Association. Organized before
the Civil War, the Association became
the town’s leading literary center for the
remainder of the 19th century.
In 1856, the city provided “lecture
rooms” for a Public Library and Reading
Room in the governmental complex which
included City Hall and Thalian Hall. In
1858, the Wilmington Library Association
moved its collection there from a building on Water Street
and stayed open throughout the Civil War.
Civil War and Reconstruction
I;
awewsa
Wilmington City Hall
c. 1870s
w.
rith the fall of Fort Fisher to Federal forces in January
1865, the future of the library became uncertain.
The Freedman’s Bureau appropriated the library rooms for
its operations. Two years later, however, the books were
back, and a complete catalog of the contents listed 1300
titles.
The move was short-lived. During Reconstruction it
was decided that the Association, lacking a legal charter,
had no right to exist on city property. By July 1872, the
