and vital center of national importance for research and education. The Library Company completed a new building on Locust Street, also named the Ridgway Library, in 1965, and opened it to the public in April 1966. See also Free Library of Philadelphia History of Public Library Advocacy Life in Philadelphia Public Library Advocacy References Notes Further reading Abbot, G. M. A Short History of the Library Company of Philadelphia; Compiled from the Minutes, Together with Some Personal Reminiscences. Philadelphia: Published by order of the board of directors, 1913. Edmunds, A. J. "The First Books Imported by America's First Great Library: 1732 " Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 30 (1906): 300–308 Gray, A. K. Benjamin Franklin's Library: A Short Account of the Library Company of Philadelphia, 1731–1931, Foreword by Owen Wister. New York: Macmillan, 1937. Grimm, D. F. "A History of the Library Company of Philadelphia, 1731–1835." Doctoral dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1955. Korty, M. B. "Benjamin Franklin and Eighteenth Century American Libraries." Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 55 (1965): 1–83. Library Company of Philadelphia. A Catalogue of Books Belonging to the Library Company of Philadelphia: A Facsimile of the Edition of 1741 Printed by Benjamin Franklin, with an Introduction by Edwin Wolf 2nd Philadelphia: Library Company of Philadelphia 1956 Packard, F. R. Charter Members of the Library Company. Philadelphia: Library Company of Philadelphia, 1942. Peterson, C. E. "The Library Hall: Home of the Library Company of Philadelphia, 1790–1880." Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 95 (1951): 266–85. Smith, J. J. "Notes for a History of the Library Company of Philadelphia." Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania 16 (September 26, 1835): 201–08. Wolf, E. "At the Instance of Benjamin Franklin"—A Brief History of The Library Company of Philadelphia, 1731–1976. Philadelphia: Library Company of Philadelphia, 1976. Wolf, E. "Library Company of Philadelphia." ELIS 15 (1975): 1–19. Wolf, E. "Some Books of Early English Provenance in the Library Company of Philadelphia." Book Collector 9 (1960): 275–84. Wolf, E. "The Early Buying Policy of the Library Company of Philadelphia [1735–70]." Wilson Library Bulletin 30 (1955): 316–18. Wolf, E. "The First Books and Printed Catalogues of the Library Company of Philadelphia." Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 78 (1954): 45–70. Wolf, E. "The Library Company of Philadelphia, America's First Museum." Antiques [U.S.A.] 120 (1981): 348–60. "Early Documents of the Library Company of Philadelphia, 1733–1734." Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 39 (1915): 450–53. "Public Library