Libraries are Not Immune to Scandal

Article AudioLibraries are Not Immune to Scandal

It has become a “thing” that people of power want to leave a legacy to the world by having a library named after them. Carnegie did it in a big way in the late 19th century.  US Presidents have been doing it officially since the creation of the Presidential Libraries Act of 1955 – but unofficially since John Quincy Adams’ day.

However, libraries are not always brought into the world under the protection of a powerful name or an act of Congress. Sometimes they have difficulty getting off the ground at all, as was the case in 1873 when J.W. Suitterlin tried to swindle the good people of Denver out of their hard earned cash with the promise of a public library to keep the town folk out of harms way and away from temptation.  Read what was written about the topic in Colorado’s historic newspapers of the time – and listen to a few of the articles here.

“A Library and a Reading Room.” Rocky Mountain News, August 18, 1872.


“Suitterlin’s Scheme” Rocky Mountain News, September 24, 1873


Skip to toolbar