What city in Mississippi can claim the first public library? The answer is a matter of interpretation.
In 1818, when the Mississippi Literary and Library Company of Gibson Port gained approval to form from the state Legislature, it was a subscription library. That meant that to use the library visitors had to pay a regular subscription fee.
“That would mean it was not a ‘public’ library by today’s definition of public, which would be free,” said Jamie Bounds Ellis, local history and genealogy librarian for the Harrison County Library System. “So it’s a matter of semantics and interpretation.”
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