Fraser-Hickson Library

The Fraser-Hickson Institute is a private library that provided free services to the Montreal community. It is closed with its collection in storage, pending a decision on a new location.

History

When Fraser-Hickson Institute opened 1885 it was the only public type library in Montreal. In 1870 local businessman Hugh Fraser left $200,000 to establish a library, as per his will, dedicated to “the diffusion of knowledge by affording free access to all desiring it.” For more than 70 years it was housed in Burnside Hall at the corner of University Street and Dorchester Boulevard. In 1956 it received an extraordinary bequest of $1 million from professor J.W.A. Hickson. Three years later it moved to property on Kensington Avenue in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce. In October 2006, facing costly property maintenance, the Institute's Board decided to sell its property and began looking for a buyer and a new site.

The library left its locale in February 2007. In September the building was sold to a private school. It has continued to provide home delivery service for the mobility impaired. Most of its collection of over 200,000 books and materials were put into storage, retaining a small collection for the home delivery service. The Institute is currently entertaining various proposals from the community.

Links

• Bibliothèque Fraser-Hickson Library
• Fraser-Hickson Community Library & Resource Centre
• Fraser-Hickson Library could still be saved, The Monitor, February 22nd, 2010