The concept of the free public library was developed in America, in the nineteenth century.
The year 1876 was the start of history of librarianship in the United Sates, including the American Library Association Library Journal, Melvil Dewey's decimal system for classification, Carnegie Libraries, and the women's clubs movement. Theses movements believed in giving communities access to knowledge, so they can find information and help better themselves with materials located in public libraries. The funding from the libraries came from businessman, Andrew Carnegie, who was a firm believe in helping people who wanted to help themselves (Carnegie). The diversity question about the institution can be answered by looking at the racial situation in the early 1900s. According to Cheryl Knott Malone's article Autonomy and Accommodation: Houston's Colored Carnegie Library, 1907-1922, libraries were segregated in the 1900s. For instance, in Houston, African American leaders were rejected from using the Houston Lyceum Carnegie Library. This was an issue that Carnegie dealt with when funding libraries. Would non-white people be allowed to access the library? Due to the time period, Carnegie could not integrate blacks into using the white library. Therefore, he provided a construction grant to Booker T. Washington, and Emmet J. Scott to build a library for black community, which was completed in 1913, and included an all-black board of trustees to govern the library (Malone, p.1). There is a sense that Carnegie wanted his libraries to be integrated, with many different races, but the era was not supportive of the idea because the were still under segregation in Southern States. Carnegie still provided for the African Americans in their own community, which shows that he wanted to help others and provide a free service to everyone.
This information on African American library history, concerning the Carnegie Grant, provides some insight into the diversity of Huntington's research institution in the 1900s. In assuming that African Americans were not allowed to have access to a white library, then the early Huntington library would not have allowed different nationalities to visit his private library. Huntington's library was part of the same concept, the development of a free research library for scholars. While the public library was a free resource for everyday people, who wanted to further their knowledge in the everyday world, Huntington's library helped scholars who wanted to further their knowledge in the educational world. This library history shows that there was a need for a free service to educate people in communities. These institutions were unique in their time because they allowed citizens free access to recorded history and information stored on a shelf for viewing. The Huntington early library is a reflection of its community indicating the commitment to education, culture, and historical preservation. This shows that people living in the 1900s valued early history. Most of the scholars were studying ancient or classical text for their research.In the beginning, Huntington collected books that were popular in his current day, such as first edition Dickens books. By collecting these books, we have access to original thoughts by the author present today. Huntington also recognised that it was important to collect historical materials from the 17th and 18th centuries. By looking at the history of the individual research library, we gain an understanding of the growth and development of the community, country, and the entire world. Many of the Pulitzer Prize winners had access to Huntington's original manuscripts and rare books, so they could better research their topic of study. Having the original document present help scholars base their thesis of of original documents, with original thoughts. Instead of interpretations of works, having access to first editions would be the most authentic version of the item, which can help scholars conduct accurate research.In addition, we learn history better when the artifact is in its original form.
Huntington's library's history shows us that research and education is important, for a better society. Having access to information can help us learn history and use history to develop new current ideas. The history of books teaches us that many different people can benefit from having access to books, so they can educate themselves and be self sufficient. Huntington library teaches us to learn about history from different disciplines. Just like the book history, which incorporates many different people involved in its production, the library has many people involved to help it run efficiently.
Library Profession
The Huntington library history teaches us that the library profession the duty was to record information and organize information in a way that would be useful for people to find information. In 1887, Dewey founded the first library school at Columbia College in New York, which Huntington's first Librarian, Cole went to to learn how to become a bibliographer. This library history reveals how important it is to be trained accurately and have a good library education. Cole could not have been Huntington's bibliographer without an education. Therefore, the development of libraries inspired a new profession, and provided jobs for people. In order to become a librarian, insensitive training is important, therefore, it encourages the need to become educated in library science. The library profession was growing because of the Carnegie grants that helped build many libraries, as well, since 1884. Therefore, librarians were very popular in the early 20th century, because there were library buildings that needed librarians, and a library support staff. Many jobs were available in librarianship. Huntington was able to locate a librarian for his private library collection because of the Carnegie library buildings, and Dewey's library school. The library profession also developed because there were many ways to organize books, collect books, evaluate books, and distribute books. Each of these parts of the library needed a staff member. 
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