How the Public Library Became an American Civic Institution | Full Documentary | Independent Lens

Official website: https://to.pbs.org/IL_2024 | #IndieLensPBS
Free For All: The Public Library tells the story of the quiet revolutionaries who made a simple idea happen. From the pioneering women behind the “Free Library Movement” to today's librarians who service the public despite working in a contentious age of closures and book bans, meet those who created a civic institution where everything is free and the doors are open to all.

Free for All: The Public Library | Independent Lens

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Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:18 Free for All
06:50 Libraries Across the Country
08:51 The First Public Library in America
11:21 Benjamin Franklin’s Public Works
12:35 Who Was Excluded from Public Libraries?
15:32 The Women of The Free Library Movement
20:30 Lutie Sterns: The Traveling Library
22:32 The Best Librarian in Wisconsin
26:29 Kids Love the Library
29:04 Immigrants & Urban Libraries
34:47 Andrew Carnegie: Greed & Wealth
39:31 Books for Immigrant Neighborhoods
41:40 The Women’s Club Movement
45:32 The Black Bookmobile
47:31 Black Librarian: Annie McFeeders
48:14 Segregation in Libraries
49:09 Harlem Renaissance & Arturo “Arthur” Schomburg
52:11 James Baldwin Talks About Books
53:48 Faith Cabin Libraries
56:09 Wartime Censorship & Book Burning
1:01:52 Integrating Public Libraries
1:05:46 The Tax Revolt & Public Funding
1:07:48 Providing Public Services
1:11:30 Closing Library Branches
1:13:39 Challenging Book Bans
1:16:19 The New Generation of the American Public Library
1:22:57 Credits

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@independentlens is an Emmy® Award-winning PBS documentary series. With founding executive producer Lois Vossen, the series has been honored with 10 Academy Award nominations and features documentaries united by the creative freedom, artistic achievement, and unflinching visions of independent filmmakers. Presented by ITVS, INDEPENDENT LENS is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Acton Family Giving, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Ford Foundation, Park Foundation, Wyncote Foundation, and National Endowment for the Arts.