Type: Public Libraries



Library: Enoch Pratt Free Library
Library Web site or Online Catalog: http://www.epfl.net
Library Collection Highlights:

Special Collections:

H. L. Mencken

Edgar Allan Poe

African American Collection

Extensive Biography and Query Files in Maryland Department

Cator Collection of Baltimore Views

Portraits of the Lords of Baltimore

Stieff collection of books on food and wine

Reuben Kramer archives

Don Swann etchings

A. J. Volck Civil War cartoons

Naylor Collection of Public Works and Scuplture in Baltimore

Aaron Sopher drawings and watercolors

20,000 black and white photographs in Maryland collection

A. Aubrey Bodine photographs

Fine Arts picture collection

Auction price guides

Framed art reproductions, available for loan
Library History: The Enoch Pratt Free Library, the public library system of Baltimore City, was founded in 1882 by Enoch Pratt, a merchant banker from Massachusetts who made is fortune in Maryland. The Library, which opened in January, 1886, was the first urban public library system in the country, with a Central Library and branches in four corners of the city. The Central Library, built in 1933, serves as Maryland's State Library Resource Center and is the hub of SAILOR, the state electronic information network. The Pratt Library system includes 21 neighborhood branches, two bookmobiles, and the Pratt Center for Technology Training. The Library's mission is "to provide equal access to information and services that support, empower, and enrich all that pursure knowledge, education, cultural enrichment, and lifelong learning."
Contact: Patricia Wallace
Title: Assistant Director
E-mail: pwallace@epfl.net
Telephone: 410-396-5204
Fax: 410-396-5196
Mailing Address: 400 Cathedral St., Baltimore, MD 21201