Image: Receipt for a Library Company share, 1733.

We continue our monthly “Shareholder Spotlight” series by taking a closer look at Share #809 and its first owner, Susanna Poulson Dobson (1797-1843).

Shareholders have always been the backbone of the Library Company of Philadelphia. Starting with the first group of fifty tradesmen who formed the library in 1731, shareholders have provided crucial financial support each year for our mission to “pour forth benefits for the common good.”

We keep careful track of who has owned each historic share, and our list of 9,800+ shareholders includes signers of the Declaration and Constitution, merchants, doctors, soldiers, scientists, artists, philanthropists, politicians, and much more.

Share #809

This share was first issued to Susanna Poulson on July 9, 1806. Susanna, also known as Susan later in life, was one of three living children of Library Company Librarian Zachariah Poulson (1761-1844). He acquired shares for all three children when he stepped down as Librarian in 1806.[i]

By that point, Zachariah had served as our Librarian for twenty-one years, during a period of incredible changes for both the Library Company and the new nation. At the start of his term, the Library Company was based in the second floor of Carpenters’ Hall, and he served as Librarian while the Constitutional Convention met on the first floor of the same building.

Zachariah oversaw the construction and eventual move to our first purpose-built building at 5th and Chestnut Street, and he printed many materials for the Library Company as well, including bookplates and catalogues.

In 1806, Zachariah stepped down as Librarian and into the role of Treasurer instead, a position he held until his death thirty-eight years later.

Zachariah was also a Library Company shareholder; he owned share #492 for a remarkable fifty-seven years. In 1806, he decided to acquire shares for his children as well. He acquired share #807 for his twenty-four-year-old son John Poulson (1782-1851), share #808 for his seventeen-year-old son Charles Augustus Poulson (1789-1866), and share #809 for his daughter Susanna, who was only nine years old at the time.[ii]

Image: Zachariah Poulson purchased Library Company shares for his three children the year he transitioned from Librarian to Treasurer. Because two of the children were underage, he had to serve as financial guarantor for their shareholding privileges. May 8, 1806 minutes, Directors Minutes Volume 4, volume 166, Library Company of Philadelphia records (MSS00270), Library Company of Philadelphia.

Susanna owned the share for the rest of her life. But like many other early women shareholders, she is difficult to find in the Library Company records that survive.

She is listed along with her father and brothers in the list of shareholders published in the 1807 catalog of holdings, as well as in the list of shareholders published in the 1835 catalog. But by 1835, she was a married woman: “Poulson, Susanna (now Dobson).”

Susanna had married Judah Dobson (1792-1850), a printer and publisher like her father.[iii] Various works published by Judah are now part of the Library Company’s collections, but he also appears in the Library Company’s institutional archives, because he sold the library quills, ink, and books on several occasions.

Image: Susanna’s husband Judah Dobson sold books and other items to both the Library Company and the Loganian Library that it administered. Order to pay J. Dobson for books (7446.F.70), box 21, folder 28, Library Company of Philadelphia records (MSS00270), Library Company of Philadelphia.

Judah also published the Library Company’s 1829 “Eighth Supplement” to its catalog of holdings and the Loganian Library’s 1828 catalog.

So while Susanna’s name is hard to find in Library Company records, she was surrounded by family members who were deeply involved in the library’s operations.

She owned her Library Company share for thirty-seven years. After her death in 1843, share #809 was maintained by her estate for another three decades. The sale to the next owner was most likely prompted by the death of her son, Zachariah Poulson Dobson (1833-1873). On October 27, 1874, Library Company records show that “L. C. Cook, administrator of the estate of Z. Poulson Dobson who was an heir of Susanna Poulson dec’d and Chas. Gurney Poulson heir as aforesaid” sold the share to William A. Porter.

The share has had a total of five owners in its history.

Not yet a shareholder?

Share #809 is currently available. We work hard to match potential shareholders with historic shares that match their interests, and we would love to match you with Susanna Poulson Dobson’s share or another option.

You can become a Library Company shareholder with an initial gift of $500. To learn more, visit our website or reach out to our Development Office at [email protected].

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[i] To learn more about Zachariah Poulson’s family tree, see Collection Inventory, Charles Augustus Poulson Sr. Family Papers (MC 2006.02), Dickinson College Archives and Special Collections, https://archives.dickinson.edu/collection-descriptions/charles-augustus-poulson-sr-family-papers (accessed September 17, 2026). Portraits of both Zachariah and his wife Susannah currently hang in the Library Company’s Scheide Reading Room.

[ii] Share #808, owned by Susanna’s brother Charles A. Poulson, is also currently available!

[iii] Judah’s father too was a Library Company shareholder: Thomas Dobson (1751-1823) was a printer as well, and he had owned share #799 until his death. Thomas’s share was sold out of the family in 1824 by his “assignees” John Vaughan and John Hart.