The New York Public Library Free Admission Saturday

Free Admission Saturday at The New York Public Library - see INFO below. Creating the Neighborhood Libraries: 67th Street Branch 67th Street Branch In the meantime, the Library had established its circulating department after consolidating with The New York Free Circulating Library in February 1901. A month later, steel baron Andrew Carnegie offered 5.2 million to construct a system of branch libraries throughout New York City (what are now the five boroughs having been consolidated into the City of New York in 1898), provided the City would supply the sites and fund the libraries' maintenance and operations. Later that year The New York Public Library contracted with the City of New York to operate 39 Carnegie branches in the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island (Brooklyn and Queens had founded separate library systems before the consolidation of the city; the Brooklyn Public Library and Queens Library remain separate entities). Thus, from the earliest days of The New York Public Library, a tradition of partnership with the city and outreach to the community was established, and continues to this day. Almost overnight, The New York Public Library became a vital part of the intellectual fabric of American life. Among its earliest beneficiaries were recently arrived immigrants, for whom the Library provided contact with the literature and history of their new country as well as the heritage that these people brought with them. More Info below.