Abstract
Philanthropy was a pervasive cultural phenomenon throughout the nineteenth century.While the Victorian and Edwardian public library system evolved through funding raised from the rates, its overall rate of development would have been slower without philanthropic intervention. The case study of the Harris Library in Preston offers a good example of how in a town which lagged behind similar towns in the development of its public library, philanthropy enabled significant progress. However, the philanthropic nature of the funding and its special status made it possible for those who secured political control of the funding to construct a building and design a library service closely fashioned on a narrow cultural view of liberal knowledge and fine art.