A Library for Laborers

Decades before Andrew Carnegie became a household name for his library philanthropy, a similar desire to bring knowledge to the masses prompted Scottish immigrant William Maclure to establish a library for laborers in 1838. Today the New Harmony Working Men’s Institute claims distinction as Indiana’s oldest continuously operating public library.

Maclure came to New Harmony as a financial partner in Robert Owen’s Utopian experiment in the 1820s, setting up the institute after the Owenite community fell apart in 1827. He modeled the enterprise on the mechanics’ institute movement in Europe, which established lending libraries for the working class, along with venues for lectures and classes.

A provision in Maclure’s will ensured the proliferation of Working Men’s Institutes, gifting money for books to 144 communities in Indiana and 16 in Illinois. The institute in New Harmony is the only one that remains, with most of the book collections in other communities absorbed by local libraries.

Originally housed in the now-demolished Harmonist Church, the library occupies a striking red brick Romanesque Revival-style building constructed in 1894. The upper floor houses a museum filled with flora and fauna specimens collected by early residents, including a large mussel shell collection and Native American artifacts. The institute’s archive on the first floor includes rare books and papers from the Owenite and Harmonist societies. Research scholars from around the world travel to New Harmony, hoping to learn about the town’s two attempts at communal living.

The Working Men’s Institute is part of the New Harmony National Historic Landmark District, one of 42 National Historic Landmarks in Indiana. (Photo: Working Men’s Institute, New Harmony)

The Working Men’s Institute welcomes visitors Tuesday-Thursday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Friday-Saturday 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 4 p.m. The library is closed on Mondays. While you’re there, be sure to tour the library’s museum; admission is free. Learn more at www.workingmensinstitute.org.