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Enoch Pratt Free Library
The Enoch Pratt Free Library is the free public library system of Baltimore, Maryland. Its Central Library is located on 400 Cathedral Street (southbound) and occupies the northeastern three quarters of a city block bounded by West Franklin Street (U.S. Route 40 westbound) to the north, Cathedral Street to the east, West Mulberry Street (U.S. Route 40 eastbound) to the south, and Park Avenue (northbound) to the west. Located on historic Cathedral Hill, north of downtown, the library is also in the Mount Vernon-Belvedere-Mount Royal neighborhood and cultural and historic district.
The Cathedral Street Main Library is the flagship of the entire Enoch Pratt Free Library system, which includes twenty-one neighborhood branches, it was designated the "Maryland State Library Resource Center" by the General Assembly of Maryland in 1971. Central Library operates as the state library for Maryland.
Library establishment began on January 21, 1882, when the longtime local hardware merchant, banking, and steamship company executive and philanthropist Enoch Pratt (1808-1896) offered a gift of a central library, four branch libraries (with two additional shortly afterward), and a financial endowment of more than $1 million to Mayor William Pinkney Whyte and the Baltimore City Council. His intention was to establish a public circulating library that (as he described it) "shall be for all, rich and poor without distinction of race or color, who, when properly accredited, can take out the books if they will handle them carefully and return them." The grant was soon accepted by the municipal government and approved by the voters on October 25, 1882.
One of the early hires at the library was William A. Williams, the first Black Catholic seminarian in America (who later dropped out due to the prevailing racist attitudes of the day).
From 1993 to August 11, 2016, Carla Hayden (formerly of the Chicago Public Library) served as the CEO of Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore and since has been the Librarian of Congress in Washington, DC. Hayden and the staff of the Pennsylvania Avenue branch were praised for keeping the branch open on Monday April 27, 2015, after protests and the civil strife over the death of Freddie Gray. The library's location, at the intersection of Pennsylvania and West North Avenues in the northwest center city Sandtown-Winchester community, found itself at the center of the protests drawing nationwide and international attention, giving community members a safe place during the troubled times.
Following Hayden's departure and promotion on August 11, 2016, the acting director of the library has been Gordon Krabbe, who served as the library's chief operating officer since 1989.
In July 2017, Heidi Daniel was named the new president and CEO of the public library system. Under Daniel's leadership, the Pratt became one of the first fine-free public library system's on the East Coast. In 2017, the Enoch Pratt Free Library was named one of Reader's Digest and Good Morning America's Nicest Places in America. Daniel also helped expand the library's social impact programs, including Social Worker in the Library, Healthcare in the Library, Peer Navigators, and Housing Navigators. Daniel sits on the Board of the Urban Libraries Council.[citation needed] In September 2024, Chad Helton was named as the library system's new president and CEO.
In June 2022, workers across the Pratt Library system voted to form a union named Pratt Workers United with AFSCME Council 67, representing over 300 workers across the system, calling for improved wages, benefits, career advancement, and increased staff input on their work environment. The council would also represent workers at Baltimore Museum of Art and Walters Art Museum if union campaigns at those institutions are successful. Workers within the library system have been organizing for a union since May 2021.
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Enoch Pratt Free Library
The Enoch Pratt Free Library is the free public library system of Baltimore, Maryland. Its Central Library is located on 400 Cathedral Street (southbound) and occupies the northeastern three quarters of a city block bounded by West Franklin Street (U.S. Route 40 westbound) to the north, Cathedral Street to the east, West Mulberry Street (U.S. Route 40 eastbound) to the south, and Park Avenue (northbound) to the west. Located on historic Cathedral Hill, north of downtown, the library is also in the Mount Vernon-Belvedere-Mount Royal neighborhood and cultural and historic district.
The Cathedral Street Main Library is the flagship of the entire Enoch Pratt Free Library system, which includes twenty-one neighborhood branches, it was designated the "Maryland State Library Resource Center" by the General Assembly of Maryland in 1971. Central Library operates as the state library for Maryland.
Library establishment began on January 21, 1882, when the longtime local hardware merchant, banking, and steamship company executive and philanthropist Enoch Pratt (1808-1896) offered a gift of a central library, four branch libraries (with two additional shortly afterward), and a financial endowment of more than $1 million to Mayor William Pinkney Whyte and the Baltimore City Council. His intention was to establish a public circulating library that (as he described it) "shall be for all, rich and poor without distinction of race or color, who, when properly accredited, can take out the books if they will handle them carefully and return them." The grant was soon accepted by the municipal government and approved by the voters on October 25, 1882.
One of the early hires at the library was William A. Williams, the first Black Catholic seminarian in America (who later dropped out due to the prevailing racist attitudes of the day).
From 1993 to August 11, 2016, Carla Hayden (formerly of the Chicago Public Library) served as the CEO of Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore and since has been the Librarian of Congress in Washington, DC. Hayden and the staff of the Pennsylvania Avenue branch were praised for keeping the branch open on Monday April 27, 2015, after protests and the civil strife over the death of Freddie Gray. The library's location, at the intersection of Pennsylvania and West North Avenues in the northwest center city Sandtown-Winchester community, found itself at the center of the protests drawing nationwide and international attention, giving community members a safe place during the troubled times.
Following Hayden's departure and promotion on August 11, 2016, the acting director of the library has been Gordon Krabbe, who served as the library's chief operating officer since 1989.
In July 2017, Heidi Daniel was named the new president and CEO of the public library system. Under Daniel's leadership, the Pratt became one of the first fine-free public library system's on the East Coast. In 2017, the Enoch Pratt Free Library was named one of Reader's Digest and Good Morning America's Nicest Places in America. Daniel also helped expand the library's social impact programs, including Social Worker in the Library, Healthcare in the Library, Peer Navigators, and Housing Navigators. Daniel sits on the Board of the Urban Libraries Council.[citation needed] In September 2024, Chad Helton was named as the library system's new president and CEO.
In June 2022, workers across the Pratt Library system voted to form a union named Pratt Workers United with AFSCME Council 67, representing over 300 workers across the system, calling for improved wages, benefits, career advancement, and increased staff input on their work environment. The council would also represent workers at Baltimore Museum of Art and Walters Art Museum if union campaigns at those institutions are successful. Workers within the library system have been organizing for a union since May 2021.