American Library in Paris
| Established | 1920 |
|---|---|
| Location | Paris, France |
| Access and use | |
| Population served | 2,235,963 (city), 11,797,021 (metro) |
| Other information | |
| Director | Charles Trueheart |
| Staff | 12 |
| Website | americanlibraryinparis |
The American Library in Paris is the largest English-language lending library on the European mainland. It operates as a non-profit cultural association in France incorporated under the laws of Delaware. Library members have access to more than 120,000 books, 500 periodicals (some of which date back to the mid-19th century), audio-visual materials, plus reference and research resources in paper and electronic form. The library currently serves nearly 2,500 members from more than 60 countries.
The library was established in 1920 under the auspices of the American Library Association with a core collection of books and periodicals donated by American libraries to United States armed forces personnel serving their allies in World War I.
Towards the end of World War I, when the United States entered the conflict, hundreds of American libraries launched the Library War Service, a massive project to send books to the troops fighting in Europe. By the Armistice, nearly a million and a half books had been sent across the Atlantic to soldiers. Originally known as the American Library Association’s Service for the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) during World War I, the American Library in Paris was formally incorporated under the laws of the state of Delaware in 1920 with a core collection of those wartime books. Director Dorothy Reeder, a quarter century later, described the library as a "war baby, born out of that vast number of books sent to the AEF by the American Library Association in the last war. When hostilities ceased, it embarked on a new mission, and has served as a memorial to the American soldiers for whom it has been established."
The library was initially located at 10, rue de l’Elysée, the former residence of the Papal Nuncio. The leadership of the early library was composed of a small group of American expatriates, notably Charles Seeger, Sr., father of the young American poet Alan Seeger ("I have a rendezvous with Death"), who had died in the war, and great-uncle of the folk singer Pete Seeger. Among the first trustees of the library was the expatriate American author Edith Wharton. Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein, early patrons of the library, contributed articles to the library’s periodical, Ex Libris, which is still published today as a newsletter. Thornton Wilder and Archibald MacLeish borrowed its books. Stephen Vincent Benét wrote "John Brown’s Body" (1928) at the Library.
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