Madison Public Library History

On Wednesday, October 15, 5 - 6:30 p.m. at the Central Library, Terrie Goren, Director of the Madison Public Library Foundation, will be presenting the video "The History of the Madison Public Library", written and narrated by local author and historian Stuart Levitan. This event is a part of the Wisconsin Book Festival.

The Madison Public Library also has one of the most comprehensive histories on the web that I've seen. It was written by Dr. Bob Kann in 2001 to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the Madison Public Library. To see the history click here.

Every library should have at least a brief history of the library accessible from its website. Examples of Wisconsin library web histories can be found here.

The City of Madison was one of three Wisconsin communities to receive a second Carnegie grant for a branch library (the other communities were Racine and Superior).  The Carnegie branch library of the Madison Public Library is no longer used as a library.  It now houses the offices of Yahara Builders.  The building is located at 1497 Williamson St. near the corner of Williamson and Baldwin.  It is located at the east end of the Williamson Street Co-op grocery store. The Central Library building funded by Carnegie was razed.