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A A LOUISVILLE FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY
_ library Dr. Theodore S. Bell, a man of high at-
.` tainments in medical science; the Rev. John H.
\ Heywood, no less esteemed in his own field;
· Prof. Noble Butler, distinguished educator, and
A Thomas H. Shreve. The latter was succeeded the
\- following year by W. D. Gallagher. The city
paid the debts of the library, according to
. agreement, and supplied deficits in its operat-
- ing expenses. It was a condition too happy to
I _ last long; the city wearied of its burden and
transferred to the library, in 1855, all the
| stock in the Louisville and Frankfort Railroad
_ which it had taken in lieu of taxes. When it
; refused to do more, the library died.(23)
Y I There followed a lull of twelve years. In
P 1865 three incorporators——Littleton Cook, John
Goodman, and Edward Fulton——hopefully started
.· the "People’s Library," but apparently made no
progress in the three years that intervened be-
t fore the "Louisville Library Association" was
  formed from its remains. In the same year,
. l8b8, the new organization changed its name to '
"Library Association ofLouisville." The incor- p
» porators were Dr. J. Lawrence Smith, R. M. Cun-
ningham, George W. Caruth, C. G. Davison, J.
Guthrie Coke,J. R.Buchanan, E. D.Cook,L. Bam-
` berger, P. B. Scott, Samuel Russell, Boyd Win- .
chester,H. V. Sanders,and Joseph Knowles. The
charter was liberal, exempting $50,000 worth of
property from taxation; but the organization
did nothing to justify the breadth of its char-
ter.
Three years more passed. Then, on April 8,
/ , l87l, the most successful of the private libra-
1 ry societies was launched. It was called,
again, the Louisville Library Association, and
I
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