[MANUSCRIPT INDENTURE ON PARCHMENT DOCUMENTING THE SALE OF A PLOT OF LAND FROM THE LIBRARY COMPANY OF PHILADELPHIA TO THE ACADEMY OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF PHILADELPHIA]

[Library Company of Philadelphia]: [Episcopal Church]

Published by Philadelphia, 1792

Two-sided manuscript document on parchment, 15 1/4 x 22 3/4 inches with scalloped top edge. Paper seals attached. Oblong folio. Old folds with a few small separations at folds (no loss of text). Minor rodent damage to lower edge (no text affected), some tanning, and a few spots of soiling. About very good. This indenture documents a sale made by the Library Company of Philadelphia to the Trustees of the Academy of the Protestant Episcopal Church of Philadelphia, of a lot "situate at the South East corner of Delaware Third Street and Pear Street.containing in breadth North and South on the said Third Street forty eight feet and in length or depth eighteen feet." for the sum of "Five hundred Pounds." Also included is a provision sinking a well on an adjoining lot, and for renting another lot for six pounds a year. It is signed by Benjamin Morgan, then Secretary for the Library, and Zachariah Poulson, the Librarian. The verso documents the release of a portion of this plot of land to the Academy from three buyers - Josiah Hewes, Mordecai Lewis, and Thomas Parke (director and board member of Library Company) - who purchased it from the Library the previous year. The Academy was founded in 1785 by the Rt. Rev. William White (the first Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church of the United States, the first bishop of the Diocese of Pennsylvania, and the second U.S. Senate Chaplain), at Old Christ Church as a boys school, focusing on classical education. It was and remains one of the premier private schools in the country. The first campus was located on the east side of Fourth Street, and the first headmaster was the Rev. John Andrews, later provost of the University of Pennsylvania. The Library Company of Philadelphia was the first successful lending library and is the oldest cultural institution in America. In 1731, Benjamin Franklin convinced members of the Junto, his "society of mutual improvement," to pool their resources and purchase a collection of books none could have afforded individually. Articles of Agreement were drafted on July 1, 1731, and the Library Company was established with the endorsement of fifty founding shareholders. Each contributed forty shillings and agreed to pay ten shillings per year thereafter. From the Revolutionary War to 1800, when the national government was in Philadelphia, the Library Company also served as the Library of Congress. Until the 1850s it was the largest public library in America. An important document in the history of two important American institutions. Seller Inventory # WRCAM56982

Bibliographic Details

Title: [MANUSCRIPT INDENTURE ON PARCHMENT ...
Publisher: Philadelphia
Publication Date: 1792