Established before the birth of the United States, the Redwood Library and Athenæum is the oldest lending library in America, and the oldest library building in continuous use in the country.
Founded in 1747 by forty-six proprietors upon the principle of "having nothing in view but the good of mankind," its mission continues over 250 years later.
The Redwood collection reflects the varied and intellectual membership it has always attracted, being a literary and cultural haven to some of America's best loved authors and artists including Edith Wharton, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Julia Ward Howe, Gilbert Stuart, Charles Bird King and Henry James.