Editing Mechanics' institute (section)

==Origins and history==
The foundations of the movement which created mechanics' institutes were in lectures given by [[George Birkbeck]] at the [[Andersonian Institute]] in Glasgow. His fourth annual lecture attracted a crowd of 500, and became an annual occurrence after his departure for [[London]] in 1804, leading to the eventual formation<ref name=infed/> on 16 October 1821<ref name=hwu>{{cite web | title=Mechanics Institute Worldwide 2021 | website=[[Heriot-Watt University]] | date=5 November 2021 | url=https://www.hw.ac.uk/alumni/watt-club/mechanics-institute-worldwide-2021.htm | access-date=31 December 2021}}</ref> of the first mechanics' institute in [[Edinburgh]], the [[Edinburgh School of Arts]] (later [[Heriot-Watt University]]<ref name=hwu/>). Its first lecture was on [[chemistry]], and within a month it was subscribed to by 452 men who each paid a quarterly subscription fee.<ref name=mi>{{cite web | title=[Home page]| website=Mechanics Institutes | date=25 May 2021 | url=https://mechanicsinstitutes.org/ | access-date=31 December 2021}}</ref>  This new model of technical educational institution gave classes for working men, and included libraries as well as apparatus to be used for experiments and technical education.<ref name=infed>{{cite web|url=http://www.infed.org/walking/wa-birb.htm |title=George Birkbeck and the London Mechanics Institute| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100817042028/http://www.infed.org/walking/wa-birb.htm |archive-date=17 August 2010| website=The encyclopaedia of informal education| date=1997| first= Mark K. |last=Smith }}</ref> Its purpose was to "address societal needs by incorporating fundamental scientific thinking and research into engineering solutions".{{Citation needed|reason=The phrasing of this is suspiciously modern.|date=March 2023}} The school revolutionised access to education in science and technology for ordinary people.

The first mechanics' institute in England was opened at [[Liverpool]] in July 1823.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/speecheshenrylo06vauxgoog/page/n154 <!-- pg=152 quote=liverpool mechanics july 1823. --> Speeches of Henry, Lord Brougham] Vol. II, 1841, Lea and Blanchard, Philadelphia</ref>

The second institute in Scotland was incorporated in [[Glasgow]] in November 1823, built on the foundations of a group started by Birkbeck. Under the auspices of the [[Andersonian Institute]], where Birkbeck had been chair of [[natural philosophy]] from 1799 to 1804 and instituted free lectures on arts, science and technical subjects from 1800. This mechanics' class continued to meet after he moved to London in 1804, and in 1823 they decided to formalise their organisation by incorporating themselves as the Mechanics' Institute. He was appointed director of the institute, which he had originally endowed with the sum of £3700, and held the office till his death in 1841.<ref>{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Birkbeck, George|volume=3}}</ref>
[[File:Manchester Mechanics Institute (1825).jpg|thumb|right|250px|Manchester Mechanics' Institute, Cooper Street, in 1825]]
[[Image:Wakefield Museum.jpg|thumb|[[Wakefield Mechanics' Institute]] (1825), later a museum]]
The [[London Mechanics' Institute]] (later [[Birkbeck College]]) was opened in December 1823, and the mechanics' institutes in [[Ipswich]] and [[Manchester]] (later to become [[UMIST]]) in 1824.<ref>{{cite book |author=Kidd, Alan J. |title=Manchester (Town and city histories) |publisher=Ryburn |location=Manchester |year=1993 |isbn=1-85331-016-6 | pages = 57–8}}</ref> By the mid-19th century, there were over 700 institutes in towns and cities across the UK and overseas, some of which became the early roots of other colleges and universities. For example, the [[University of Gloucestershire]], has the Cheltenham Mechanics' Institute (1834) and Gloucester Mechanics' Institute (1840) within its history timeline. It was as a result of delivering a lecture series at the Cheltenham Mechanics' Institute that the radical [[George Holyoake]] was arrested and then convicted on a charge of blasphemy.<ref>{{cite thesis|title=Politics in Mechanics' Institutes 1820–1850, Turner, C. M., Thesis (PhD), 1980 |publisher=Leicester University|hdl=2381/35680 |date=January 1980 |type=thesis }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title= Notes of Mr Hunt reporter August 15 1842, The Trial of George Jacob. Holyoake on an Indictment for blasphemy |url= https://www.bl.uk/ |website=British Library main catalogues|publisher=British Library }}</ref>

In Australia, the first mechanics' institute was established in [[Hobart]] in 1827, followed by the [[Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sydneymsa.com.au|title=SMSA (Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts)|work=SMSA}}</ref> in 1833, [[Newcastle, New South Wales|Newcastle]] School of Arts in 1835, then the [[Melbourne]] Mechanics' Institute established in 1839 (renamed the [[Melbourne Athenaeum]] in 1872<ref>{{cite web|url=https://melbourneathenaeum.org.au/timeline/1872-2/|title = 1872 - Name Changed)}}</ref>). From the 1850s, mechanics' institutes quickly spread throughout [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]] wherever a hall, library or school was needed. Over 1200 mechanics' institutes were built in Victoria and just over 500 remain today, and only six still operate their lending library services.<ref>{{cite book |author=Lowden, Bronwyn |title=Mechanics' Institutes, Schools of Arts, Athenaeums, etc.: An Australian Checklist – 3rd Edition |publisher=Lowden Publishing Co. |location=Donvale, Australia |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-920753-16-0 | pages = 64–111}}</ref>

The [[Industrial Revolution]] created a new class of reader in Britain by the end of the 18th century, "mechanics", who were civil and mechanical engineers in reality. The [[Birmingham]] Brotherly Society was founded in 1796 by local mechanics to fill this need, and was the forerunner of mechanics' institutes, which grew in England to over seven hundred in number by 1850.<ref name="Kilgour, Frederick 1998, p. 99">Kilgour, Frederick. ''The Evolution of the Book''. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998, p. 99.</ref>{{better source needed|date=December 2021}}

Small tradesmen and workers could not afford subscription libraries, so for their benefit, benevolent groups and individuals created mechanics' institutes that contained inspirational  and vocational reading matter, for a small rental fee. Later popular non-fiction and fiction books were added to these collections. The first known library of this type was the Birmingham Artisans' Library, formed in 1823.

Some mechanics' libraries lasted only a decade or two, and many eventually became public libraries or (in the United States) were given to local public libraries after the [[Public Libraries Act 1850]] passed. Though use of the mechanics' libraries was limited, the majority of the users were favourable towards the idea of free public libraries.<ref name=Harris>Harris, Michael. ''History of Libraries in the Western World''. 4th ed. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1995, p. 153.</ref> However, by 1900 there were over 9,000 mechanics institutes around the world.<ref name=mi/>

Beyond a [[lending library]], mechanics' institutes also provided lecture courses, laboratories, and in some cases contained a museum for the members' entertainment and education. The Glasgow Institute, founded in 1823, not only had all three, it was also provided free light on two evenings a week from the local [[gas lighting|gas light company]]. The London Mechanics' Institute installed gas illumination by 1825, revealing the demand and need for members to use the books.<ref name="Kilgour, Frederick 1998, p. 99"/> Some mechanics' institutes also offered a programme from the arts; [[Wisbech]] Mechanics' institute booked [[Fanny Kemble|Mrs Butler]] to give readings from [[Shakespeare]]'s plays and [[John Milton|Milton]]'s ''[[Paradise Lost]]'' to audiences of nearly a thousand.<ref>{{cite news|title= Wisbech|newspaper= Cambridge Independent Press|date= 16 December 1854|page= 8}}</ref>

G. Jefferson explains:
<blockquote>The first phase, the Mechanics Institute movement, grew in an atmosphere of interest by a greater proportion of the population in scientific matters revealed in the public lectures of famous scientists such as Faraday. More precisely, as a consequence of the introduction of machinery a class workmen emerged to build, maintain and repair, the machines on which the blessing of progress depended, at a time when population shifts and the dissolving influences of industrialization in the new urban areas, where these were concentrated, destroyed the inadequate old apprentice system and threw into relief the connection between material advancement and the necessity of education to take part in its advantages.<ref name=Jefferson>Jefferson, G. ''Libraries and Society''. Cambridge & London, Great Britain: James Clark & CO. LTD., 1969, p. 21.</ref> </blockquote>