Benjamin Franklin and his fellow Junto members drew up “Articles of Agreement” on July 1, 1731 to found a library. They issued the first group of eleven shares four months later, with a total of twenty-five shares issued that first year. Each of the subscribers invested forty shillings and promised to pay ten shillings a year thereafter to buy books and maintain a “shareholder’s library.”
Learn more about the history of the Library Company’s earliest shareholders below.