August 25, 2026

Dear Library Company Shareholders and Members,

I am writing you for the first time in my new capacity as Edwin Wolf 2nd Director of the Library Company of Philadelphia. It is a tremendous honor to lead an institution I have studied and loved from the beginning of my professional career.

For close to two decades now, first through my dissertation and then my resulting published monograph, I have argued that the Library Company is at the heart of America’s founding and helped build much in our democracy that we take for granted today. It is in this spirit that I begin my tenure as director and approach my responsibility guiding our merger with Temple University. My core objectives are to steward the world-historical collections in our care and to sustain and enhance the Library Company’s 295-year mission to foster pathbreaking research and support the strengthening of democracy.

Looking to the future, I am working closely with the Library Company staff and Temple colleagues to make operational changes that support the merger process, uplift our staff, expand our research enterprise, advance knowledge creation, and create space for dialogue.

One adjustment I am excited to announce is that in mid-September the Library Company’s reading room hours will change to remain open through lunch and that patrons will be able to call up all materials from a single reading room location. Stay tuned for more details about that change coming soon!

I am profoundly grateful to Director Emeritus John C. Van Horne. I honor the work that John has performed in the last two and a half years to get the Library Company through a turbulent time. His priority has been to see the Library Company safely into its fourth century and he has set us on the path to do exactly that. I know that I have big shoes to fill.

I also want to thank the Board of Trustees for their untiring efforts on behalf of the Library Company, and especially President Maria Thompson, who has been a cheerful, generous, wise, and indefatigable mentor and ally.

Going forward, I need the help, expertise, commitment, and financial support of the Library Company shareholders and friends to see us through this historic period of transition. In short, I need you. I am proud to serve this community and excited to see what we can do together.

Sincerely,

Jessica Choppin Roney

Edwin Wolf 2nd Director