The Newberry Library is an independent research library located in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood that has been free and open to the public since 1887. 

Walter L. Newberry, a businessman and civic leader in Chicago who died in 1868, left a provision in his will calling for the creation of a “free public library.” Newberry was light on details. He couldn’t predict how the library might best serve Chicago by the time it opened. As a result, Newberry staff shaped the institution around the needs of the city.

To complement the Chicago Public Library, which had been established in 1872, the trustees decided to found a non-circulating reference library that would be free and open to the public.

Today, the Newberry collection extends across 27.5 miles of shelving in the library stacks. And it’s still growing.