J. P. Robertson founded city’s library system

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/10/2023 (725 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg’s first public library, the now vacant Carnegie Library building on William Avenue, opened on Oct. 11, 1905. It may surprise some that it took more than three decades for the city to establish such an important civic service, but it would been much longer had it not been for the intervention of two Scottish-born men who never worked for the city.

Prior to the Carnegie Library, access to reading material in Winnipeg was limited to collections found in schools, universities, and reading rooms in members-only establishments such as the Manitoba Club. The closest thing to a public library was a collection of thousands of mostly academic volumes owned by the Historical and Scientific Society of Manitoba, forerunner to the Manitoba Historical Society, located in a cramped reading room at city hall.

The lack of a public library was not lost on provincial librarian John Palmerston Robertson.

Scottish-born Robertson grew up in Ottawa and became a journalist and newspaper editor before coming to Winnipeg in 1879 to continue his trade. A few years later, he was hired by the province to take control of its growing collection of books, maps and other records, and he established Manitoba’s provincial library and archives.

Robertson’s concern that Winnipeg did not have a “free public library commensurate with the present requirements and future prospects of our rapidly growing city” prompted him to contact Alexander Carnegie for help. The Scottish-American industrialist-turned-philanthropist had been granting millions of dollars a year to build public libraries around the world, including one in Robertson’s home town of Ottawa.

The appeal was successful and on July 22, 1901, Robertson informed city council by letter that, “Mr. Carnegie has authorized me to state that if Winnipeg desires to avail itself of this bequest its civic authorities should at once place themselves in communications with him so that the necessary arrangements may be entered into.”

Council accepted the $75,000 grant and agreed to the stipulations that it would provide the land for the library and contribute at least $7,500 per year to operate it.

Construction got underway in late 1903 and the Carnegie Library was officially opened on Wednesday, Oct. 11, 1905, by Canadian Gov. Gen. Earl Grey and his daughter Lady Evelyn. Carnegie’s funding was acknowledged in the opening day speeches, but Robertson’s role was not.

The Carnegie Library was city’s main library until the opening of the Centennial Library in 1977. It then became a smaller branch library which shared space with the city’s Archives and Records Control department until 1995, when the city archives took over the entire space.

The building was undergoing renovations in 2013 when a rainstorm caused extensive water damage to its interior. Since then, it has sat empty and the city archives have remained in a temporary facility.

Earlier this year, city council allocated funds in its five-year budget to begin renovations on the building so that Archives and Record Control can return to its long-time home. If that budget promise is kept, the former Carnegie Library should reopen to the public in time for its 120th anniversary.