Our Town Library
The Peterborough Town Library, established in 1833, is the oldest tax-supported public library in the world. On April 9, 1833, at Town Meeting, a proposal was made and passed “that a portion of the State Literary Fund be used for the purchase of books to establish a library, free to all the citizens of Peterborough.”
The Peterborough Town Library’s claim to importance is not that it was the first library to which the public had access, for such libraries had existed before 1833. Rather, its importance rests in its being created on the principle, accepted at Town Meeting, that the public library, like the public school, was deserving of maintenance by public taxation and should be owned and managed by the people of the community, who thereby ceased to be dependent upon private munificence. In this, the Peterborough Town Library was the first – and has, since its founding in 1833, been an integral element of the Peterborough community’s identity.
The people of Peterborough have continued to support and prioritize the first free tax-supported public library in the nation. The library remains as both a historic symbol of the town’s belief in free access to information and knowledge, and as a modern library with opportunities for connection and collaboration for years to come.