Established December 28th, 1748 by seventeen young gentlemen of various trades and professions wishing to avail themselves of the latest publications from Great Britain, the Charleston Library Society paved the way for the founding of the College of Charleston in 1770 and provided the core collection of natural history artifacts for the founding of the Charleston Museum (the first in America) in 1773.

At first, elected librarians safeguarded the Library's materials in their homes. In 1755, William Henderson was elected librarian of the Society, and he moved the collections into the Free School (of which he was headmaster) on Broad Street. From 1765 until 1778, it resided in the upstairs of Gabriel Manigault's liquor warehouse. In 1792, the collection was transferred to the upper floor of the Statehouse, currently the County Courthouse at Broad and Meeting. From 1835 until its 1914 move to the current King Street location, the Charleston Library Society occupied the Bank of South Carolina building at the corner of Church and Broad Streets. That building was paid for with "Brick" memberships, a permanent membership for a one-time lump sum: several of these memberships are still in use, generations later, by Charleston families.

During the war years of 1861 - 1865, part of the Library's archives was sent to the state capitol for safekeeping. The reunion of the collections at the end of the war also marked the merging of the Apprentice's Library with the Charleston Library Society, resulting in the long-standing practice of providing each adult member a free membership to gift to a minor twenty-one years of age or under.

Growth of the collection called for modern cataloguing, and in 1899 librarian Ellen Fitzsimons implemented the Cutter classification system and the card catalogue, replacing our printed-and-bound catalogues. The following year marked the end of the Jockey Club of South Carolina: their assets were donated to the Society and used to create our first endowment specifically for the purchase of books. In 1902, the Society accepted its first institutional member, the College of Charleston. This membership means that all CofC students and faculty are automatically Library Society members.

In 1914 the Library Society moved to its current location at 164 King Street. This was the first building to house our collection that was designed and built for the Society. Here, in this new building, members like DuBose Heyward, John Bennett, Beatrice Witte Ravenel, Albert Simons, Josephine Pinckney, and many others, studied and read and wrote, diligently weaving the cultural fabric of 20th-century Charleston.

The Charleston Library Society's Main Building (164 King Street) was designed in the Beaux Arts style by Philadelphia architects McGoodwin and Hawley. With its large palladian windows and grand marble steps framed by a pair of lovely ginkgo trees, the front elevation of the Society has become a landmark of Lower King Street. The distinctive ginkgoes were a gift from long-time local florist Fred Aichele in 1922, and were planted by the Garden Club of Charleston.

In 1963 the Library Society acquired the Barnwell Annex (162 King Street). The Barnwell Annex was completely renovated, and the entrance was moved from King Street to the Gateway Walk. In 1978, work began on a walkway between the Main Building and Barnwell Annex. This arched passageway, in addition to handsomely framing the Gateway Walk, allowed the Library to make its first major expansion in fifty years.

In 1992, the Library Society purchased the Carolina Rifles Armory (158-160 King Street). Built in 1888 as a volunteer militia meeting hall, the building was crumbling and the unique decorative facade was rusting away. The Society decided that the building deserved a full renovation, and four years and 1.2 million dollars later, the Society was moving into their new wing. Rechristened the Ripley-Ravenel Building, after Society president Warren Ripley and notable benefactor Beatrice St. Julien Ravenel, the 8,000 square foot expansion now houses the most valuable items in the Society's collections. In 1996, the Library Society recieved a Carolopolis Award from the Preservation Society of Charleston for its notable work with the Ripley-Ravenel Building.

Charleston Library Society, 1916