Library and Information Science Commons^™

A History Of The Public Library Movement In Utah, Max J. Evans

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The public library in Utah and its acceptance as a public institution is the subject of this thesis. For present purposes, public libraries will be defined as those open to all, those having general collections of books, and those which circulate their books among the public. This thesis does not treat church, school, college, industrial, medical, law, and special libraries, except as they functioned as public libraries.

Most of Utah’s earliest public libraries were operated and supported by private individuals and organizations. As private support proved insufficient, however, cities and towns began to take up this responsibility. In the year …