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Chatham Square Library

From East Broadway, Chinatown

Contents 1 Historical Overview 1.1 The Neighborhood 2 Serving the Public 2.1 Accommodating the Influx of Chinese Immigrants 3 Hand Drawn Maps of East Broadway 4 Satellite View

Historical Overview

All kinds of institutions can be found along East Broadway, from banks to money transfer locales to Chinese grocery stores and shops that cater to the surrounding community. However, one of the most historically rich locations that can be found on East Broadway is the Chatham Square Library, a branch of the New York Public Library that serves Chinatown. It has been serving the Chinatown community for over 100 years, ever since it opened its doors in the summer of 1903. The mere presence of the library is actually due to Andrew Carnegie. He donated $5,200,000 on March 12, 1901 so that the city could erect branch libraries all over New York City. The City merely had to furnish and upkeep these new libraries once they were built. On April 26, 1901, an act was passed so that the city may accept gifts such as the one Carnegie was providing. On July 17, 1901, the city and the library representing Carnegie drew up a deal where the city agreed to provide 42 (later 65) sites in Manhattan, Bronx, and Richmond where the library could build branches with Carnegie’s gift. The City would pay back one tenth of the sum Carnegie spent for maintenance. The second library branch that was built and opened was the Chatham Square library branch. One of the more notable aspects of the library is its architecture that is a clear representation of the Classical Revival Style. The well known architectural firm McKim, Mead and White designed the library building.

The Neighborhood

This branch, being the second oldest of the Carnegie libraries, was situated in the crossroads of the extremely diverse neighborhood (just East of Chatham Square). In its vicinity is Chinatown to the immediate west, and going further would lead into “Little Italy.” To the north, the Jewish have settled, and the northeast is populated by the Russians and Lithuanians. “In the territory between the library and the East River live a generally mixed population, including Greeks, Spanish, and a few poor French families.” If one heads southwards, they will encounter the Irish in the old districts, and along the nearby waterfront are the Norwegians, Swedes, and other peoples of Scandinavian descent. Last but not least, are the Germans, who are also around, in their clannish communities; not to be disturbed much by other nationalities, but none the less, decreasing in size (at the time).

Serving the Public

Being that this branch was founded in such a location, it was not surprising that it was stocked with books in various foreign prints. The selections consisted of books in German, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Jewish, Yiddish, Greek, Arabic, and a few other select languages. However, there were no books in Chinese until several years later. The reason? Simply because “there had been no call for Chinese books.”

Accommodating the Influx of Chinese Immigrants

One of the more important facets of the library is that it as helped serve the growing Asian community surrounding it. Also known as the polyglot branch of the New York Public Library system, on March 26, 1911, the Chatham Square Library received 300 Chinese books to be incorporated into its already massive collection of 21,000 volumes overall. Of these 300 books, most were of educational value, usually works of science. This addition was made possible through the joint efforts of head librarian, Ernestine Rose, and Chinese merchant, Kwai Fong Pang. At that time, the demand for Chinese books spiked in such a drastic manner, that more books were necessary, and the library began considering hiring an assistant that could speak the language.

Hand Drawn Maps of East Broadway

Satellite View

The Library Website: http://www.nypl.org/branch/local/man/chr.cfm

View source | Discuss this page | Page history | What links here | Related changes Main Page | About East Broadway, Chinatown | Find: This page was last modified 17:54, 6 May 2008 by East Broadway, Chinatown anonymous user 127.0.0.1. Based on work by Ernest Wong and Craig Willse.