Library Company of Philadelphia

39°56′52″N 75°09′47″W / 39.94779°N 75.16306°W / 39.94779; -75.16306

Library Company of Philadelphia
Location	1314 Locust Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Established	1731; 293 years ago (1731)
Collection
Size	500,000 books; 70,000 other items
Access and use
Circulation	Non-circulating collection
Population served	Free and open to the public
Members	Benjamin Franklin originally
Other information
Director	Dr. Michael J. Barsanti[1]
Employees	28
Website	http://www.librarycompany.org/

The Library Company of Philadelphia (LCP) is a non-profit organization based on Locust Street in Center City Philadelphia. Founded as a library in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin, the Library Company of Philadelphia has accumulated one of the most significant collections of historically valuable manuscripts and printed material in the United States.

The current collection size is approximately 500,000 books and 70,000 other items, including 2,150 items that once belonged to Franklin, the Mayflower Compact, major collections of 17th-century and Revolution-era pamphlets and ephemera, maps, and whole libraries assembled in the 18th and 19th centuries. The collection also includes first editions of Moby-Dick and Leaves of Grass.^[2]