Image: Receipt for a Library Company share, 1733.

We continue our monthly “Shareholder Spotlight” series by taking a closer look at Share #244 and its second owner, Thomas McKean (1734-1817).

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 #244

This share was first issued to Josiah Hewes (1732-1821) on April 6, 1769. Like a number of previously profiled shares, that puts him among the shareholders of the Union Library Company, which merged into the Library Company on this date. As previously discussed, that merger added more books and 276 new shareholders to the Library Company, and it also added the Library Company’s first two women shareholders.

For unknown reasons, Josiah took steps to acquire a different Library Company share (#265) the following year, and sold this share to Thomas McKean (1734-1817) on April 11, 1770.[i]

McKean was a lawyer, judge, and politician with ties to both Delaware and Pennsylvania. At the time he became a Library Company shareholder, he was serving as an Assemblyman in the Delaware Assembly, and eventually served as Speaker of that body for several years. Noting the incongruity of McKean living in Philadelphia for six of his years as a Delaware Assemblyman, one biographer wrote that “It exhibits a singular proof of confidence on the part of the constituents, and fidelity in the representative.”[ii]

Image: T. B. Welch, engraver, from painting by C. Stuart, Thomas McKean, in James B. Longacre and James Herring, The National Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Americans (Philadelphia and New York, 1839), Volume 4. Gift of Michael Zinman, 1999.

McKean went on to represent Delaware in the first Continental Congress in 1774, the second Continental Congress in 1775, and the 1781 Articles of Confederation.[iii]

McKean was “instrumental” in the 1776 vote to approve the Declaration of Independence; he asked his fellow Delaware representative Cesar Rodney to travel to Philadelphia to cast his vote. Despite his support, it is unclear when McKean actually signed the document. His name does not appear on the January 18, 1777 printed version of the Declaration, which was the first to include names of the signers. This caused some political problems for him later, so he apparently double-checked the document in 1814 to make sure his signature was indeed there. (It is visible in the later copperplate engraving of the original Declaration.)[iv]

McKean was also deeply involved in the judiciary of the new nation. He served as Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court starting in 1777, continuing in that role for more than two decades.[v]

In 1781, McKean was elected as President of Congress, so he was in charge when the British lost at the Battle of Yorktown, prompting the end of the Revolutionary War.

Image: This 1856 print imagines the scene when Thomas McKean, depicted outside his house in his robe, with his hand on his chin, learned of General Cornwallis’s 1781 surrender at Yorktown. Eugenio Latilla, painter; Thomas Doney, engraver; Cornwallis is Taken! (New York, 1856). Gift of Mrs. Francis P. Garvan, 1978.

After the Revolutionary War, McKean continued as Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. In 1799, he was elected Governor of Pennsylvania and served three terms until 1812.[vi]

Eventually, Thomas sold the share to his son Joseph B. McKean (1764-1826) on August 3, 1816. Both men are identified as being “of the City of Philadelphia” in the transaction record, but the transfer itself was sealed in Delaware. Thomas died the following year.[vii]

Image: Thomas McKean wrote to Library Company Librarian Zachariah Poulson to ask that his son Robert McKean be allowed to borrow “a volume of the British Encyclopedia.” As the shareholder, Thomas confirmed that he knew that he would be held responsible for the book. Correspondence from Thomas McKean Giving Permission for Son Robert to Borrow Book (66123.D), 1796, Box 25, Folder 14, Library Company of Philadelphia records (MSS00270).

Joseph owned the Library Company share for the rest of his life. His estate administrator and son William W. McKean (1800-1865) sold the share to Joseph’s widow (and William’s mother) Hannah McKean (1764-1845) on September 7, 1827.

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

Not yet a shareholder?

Share #244 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 Thomas McKean’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] Josiah Hewes purchased share #265 from its previous owner, Joseph Jacobs, on April 10, 1770, and sold this share to Thomas McKean on the following day. Hewes owned Library Company share #265 for the rest of his life. He also served as a member of the Library Company’s board of directors from 1770 until 1798. Like share #244, share #265 is currently available!

[ii] T. A. B., “Thomas McKean,” in James B. Longacre and James Herring, The National Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Americans (Philadelphia and New York, 1839), Volume 4. Gift of Michael Zinman, 1999.

[iii] Colleen Boyle, “Thomas McKean,” Pennsylvania Center for the Book, Penn State University Libraries, https://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/literary-cultural-heritage-map-pa/bios/mckean__thomas (accessed October 22, 2026).

[iv] Mary Katharine Goddard’s 1777 printing included only Cesar Rodney and George Read’s names as signers for Delaware. See Emily Sneff, When the Declaration Was News (Oxford, 2026), 179-180, 238 note 16.

[v] Boyle, “Thomas McKean.”

[vi] Boyle, “Thomas McKean.”

[vii] The share transaction from Thomas McKean to Joseph B. McKean appears on page 36 in Share Record Book C, Volume 173, Library Company of Philadelphia records (MSS00270).