What A Colonial Gentleman Needs to Know

The Redwood Library

One thing I’ve learned about libraries and their collections is that they’re personal.  They’re not just a place for random books to sit on a shelf but a representation of the community or the people they serve.  The Redwood Library in Newport, RI is a perfect example from the very first days of libraries in North America.

I lived around the corner from the Redwood Library for almost a decade after graduating from college.  But alas, I squandered my proximity to this temple of books.  For me the years in Newport were devoted to fun, friends, sailing, marriage and travel- quintessential 20s.  By 30 I was living in nearby Portsmouth, RI but drove into Newport daily for my daughter’s preschool, across the street from the Redwood, and we often walked around Touro Park and crossed the street to admire and climb on (her, not me) the giant metal lawn sculptures at the Art Museum, next to the Redwood.

We went to the library weekly, at least,  but opted for the ‘wild toddler safe’ environment of the Newport Public Library and adjacent playground.  Bringing a preschool into the Redwood Library is like putting your grandmother’s ivory handled silver in the dishwasher.  Last week I made up for my negligence by reading up on the Redwood’s history in an article by Cheryl Helms, included in the book America’s Private Library.

In 1749 Abraham Redwood was a successful merchant in Newport.  Thankful for all his blessings, he decided to donate 500 pounds to establish a “collection of useful books” for “propagating virtue, knowledge and useful learning” in Newport. After petitioning the Governor and establishing the Company of the Redwood Library, Redwood and eight elected directors came up with a list of books that they wanted for their new library and sent the order off to their purchasing agent in London.  They were rewarded with 751 titles (1,339 volumes of books) for their new venture.

Most colonials libraries did not begin this way.  It was more typical for library start ups to begin with a collection of pooled books from the interested parties, usually made up of educated gentlemen.  A library was cobbled together and then added to over the years.  But the Redwood Collection is fascinating because it provides us with a list of books that the 18th century directors thought were necessary for a “prosperous cosmopolitan” city such as Newport. The books were not just what they wanted to read, but what they thought should be read.  Their catalogue was the equivalent of the  “1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die”   Helms goes as far as saying that the collection represents the “cultural underpinning of our nation”.

Henry Collins, another of the library’s founders, came through with a donation of land on which the library could be built (there would be no back rooms or dusty corners for this collection).  Collins sacrificed his bowling green, a lovely flat piece of land, with a stunning view of the harbor and countryside.  Members were tapped to contribute “5,000 old tenor”, or about 250 pounds, to construct the new temple to learning.

The original collection remains on the shelf in the original Redwood Library just as it did in 1764 (tomorrow I’ll reveal the interesting titles they choose and why) which is another thing that makes the Redwood unique.  Somehow, over the centuries, the original Redwood remained in tact and in use.  These books allow us to step back in time, to a time before we were even our own country, and reflect on where we came from, what was important to us and what we believed in.  Thankfully books are included in the answers.