The first known “public library” in the village of Syracuse was owned by Mrs. Hiram Putnam and Mrs. Lewis Redfield in 1830. Located in a small wooden case, similar to a medicine cabinet, it contained about 30 books that were used by friends of the owners and others interested in reading.
Syracuse Public Library was founded in 1852 by the Board of Education and was called the Central Library, four years after Syracuse was incorporated as a city. The library was located in the old City Hall, which stood on the site of the present City Hall. The Central Library was moved to the new High School on West Genesee Street in 1869, occupying nearly all the first floor. In 1880, Ezekiel Mundy became librarian and, under his tenure, the library thrived. He was very revolutionary, creating an open stack policy, placing fiction into the library collection and creating a children’s room. In 1893, the Syracuse Central Library was granted a charter with a board of trustees and was no longer under the supervision of the Board of Education. In the next year, the library moved to Jefferson and Montgomery Streets where the Putnam School had been remodeled for it. By an amendment to the charter in 1900, the Syracuse Central Library was officially changed to the Syracuse Public Library.
In 1901, Andrew Carnegie assisted Syracuse in the building of a new library building, located on Montgomery Street. Opened on March 23, 1905, this remained the Central Library in Syracuse until 1988, when it moved to its present location at the Galleries on Salina Street.
Library branches were established in 1898 with the distributing station on West Genesee Street, followed by most other branches opening between 1902-1927. A building program in the late 1950's and 1960's provided new structures for many of the eight branches. In 1962 a cooperative nonprofit association of the Syracuse Public Library and suburban libraries in Onondaga County was formed into the Onondaga Library System (OLS). The OLS provided shared services that otherwise would not be economically feasible if attempted by individual libraries, such as interlibrary loan, the bookmobile, technical and audio-visual services. The City of Syracuse and Onondaga County began jointly funding libraries, and on January 1, 1976 the Syracuse Public Library and the Onondaga Library System ceased independent operations and became the Onondaga County Public Library. Today’s OCPL includes the Robert P. Kinchen Central Library in downtown Syracuse, 8 branch libraries and 2 satellite locations in city neighborhoods and 22 suburban libraries to provide county residents with a thriving cooperative library network consisting of a vast array of shared library services.
The collection contains information on the history and workings of the Syracuse Public Library. Items in the collection date from 1838 to --. The papers of the Syracuse Public Library are divided into the following series: history of the library, business items, accessions, collections, programs, publications, publicity and photographs and videos.
Series 1: History of the Syracuse Public Library
The series includes papers and ephemera on the history of the Syracuse Public Library. Items include histories written on the library, annual reports from 1894 to --- , the original library from 1838, information on the Carnegie Library and the move to the Galleries, library directors and board of directors, including board meeting minutes. Date coverage is from 1838 to ---.
Series 2: Business Items
The business items series includes papers relating to the running of the library, such as, ledgers, audit reports, memos, training manuals, early payroll files from 1894 to 1921, employee files and retirement fund information. The employee files and retirement fund information is restricted for security reasons. Date coverage is from 1894 to ---.
Series 3: Accessions
Accessions covers the acquiring of items in the library. Items available are accessions logs, finding lists and catalogs.. Date coverage is from 1879 to 2000.
Series 4: Collections
This series includes information on various collections of the Syracuse Public Library and Onondaga County Public Library, such as the John D. Barrow paintings. Date coverage is from 1905 to ---.
Series 5: Library Programs
This series offers information on programs such as the Bookmobile, Friends of Reading and Books by Mail. Date coverage is from 1907 to ---.
Series 6: Publications
Publications are available from Syracuse Public Library and Onondaga County Public Library. Publications also include those by others relating to SPL and OCPL. Items include brochures and fliers, the Gold Star List of American Fiction, bibliographies, and the Union List of Periodicals and Newspapers. Date coverage is from 1865 to ---.
Series 7: Publicity
The Publicity series includes press releases and newspaper clippings created by and about the Syracuse Public Library. Date coverage is from 1924 to ---
Series 8: Photographs and Videos
The Photographs and Videos series includes photos,slides and video of the library, staff and programming. Date coverage is from 1897 to ---.
The collection is arranged into series based on broad subject categories like history, business items, accessions, library programs, publications, publicity and photographs and videos
Patron must have a valid OCPL library card.
User must use materials in the Local History and Genealogy Department of
OCPL.
Permission must be obtained from staff for reproduction of any
materials.
MS-1
Preferred citation for this material is as follows:
Syracuse Public Library Archives
Onondaga County Public Library
Local History
and Genealogy Department
Shelf Location: Compact LH/G
Archives of the Syracuse Public Library and the Onondaga County Public Library