founders conservative, if not to say reactionary views, and aimed
to serve the intellectual and cultural elite. With this
viewpoint a significant part of their professional duties
included censoring "bad" books. Several historians including
those with professional library degrees have responded to
Harris's arguments with evaluations and interpretations somewhat at variance with his viewpoint and/or his methodology. 15
Lastly, as part of the review of secondary literature, the
Dictionary of American Library Biography and the research journal
Libraries & Culture (formerly Journal of Library History) are
scholarly reference works which could be valuable in studying the
lives of well known librarians, the history of American public
11braries, and keeping abreast of current scholarship.
Understandably, no information has been published in any
database about the history of Thrall Library or as it is known
today (i.e. since February 1995) Middletown Thrall Library. In a
real sense my literature review (broadly defined) has actually provided me with the information needed to write this Library's
history. I have relied upon written primary sources produced
within and outside the library. Examples of these sources
include, but are not limited to, the "Rules and Regulations of
the Library and Reading Room of the Middletown Lyceum" dated