January 15, 1796, 227 years ago today, the Union Library Company was founded at the White Hall Tavern, Albany Street, New Brunswick.

January 15, 1796, 227 years ago today, the Union Library Company was founded at the White Hall Tavern, Albany Street, New Brunswick. 




This is a subscription library, one of the earliest in NJ, with a $5 entry fee and annual dues of $1.50 (about $105 and $35 in 2023 dollars). 

Some of the original volumes are pictured. They were transferred through a couple of versions of private libraries until they wound up archived in the New Brunswick Free Public Library. 

These copies are no longer loaned out, but modern copies of these and the rest of the original 16 titles* that founded the Union Library, are available either in the Library’s collection or through interlibrary loan. From a scholarly history paper by City Librarian Cornelia A. 

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