1836 Mercantile Library Association Membership Card

New York, New York: Mercantile Library Association, 1836. Very good. Discoloration and dust soiling due to card's coating.. Printed library membership card finished in ink, admitting "Capt. Lathrop" to the Mercantile Library Association "for the term of Four Weeks" beginning 15th of March, 1836. Signed at foot by "Chas Rolfe Prest [i.e. President of the Association]". Printed on coated card measuring approx. 2.75" by 4.5", verso blank. New York's Mercantile Library Association was founded in 1820 to provide the city's growing population of clerks and businessmen with circulating libraries, lectures, and other morally acceptable social activities to engage in during their spare time. By the 1870s, the Mercantile Library was one of the largest membership libraries in the country, and it continued to flourish until the 1890s, when the New York Public Library was formed. Membership slowly dwindled over the next century, forcing the Association to sell off many of its collections, but it still exists today in the form of a non-profit organization supporting writer called the Center for Fiction in Brooklyn. Lectures, fellowships and prizes are still offered, though its focus has shifted to fiction writing from supporting members of mercantile-related professions. An important piece of ephemera marking an important part of the history of libraries in New York. (Inventory #: 26008526)