The first public library in the US was established in Boston in 1653. Massachusetts has one of the most important university libraries in the country, and numerous museums and historical sites commemorate the state's rich colonial history. Six regional library systems served 351 towns and cities with a total number of volumes over 30 million in 2000. The major city libraries are in Boston, Worcester, and Springfield. State funding for public libraries was $17 million in 2000; total library income amounted to $205,569,000. Per capita spending came to $28.53.
The Boston Athenaeum, with 650,000 volumes, is the most noteworthy private library in the state. The American Antiquarian Society in Worcester has a 690,000-volume research library of original source material dating from colonial times to 1876.
Harvard University's library system is one of the largest in the world, with 14,311,152 volumes in 1999. Other major academic libraries are those of Boston University, the University of Massachusetts (Amherst), Smith College, and Boston College.
Boston houses a number of important museums, among them the Museum of Fine Arts with vast holdings of artwork including extensive Far East and French impressionists collections and American art and furniture, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Museum of Science, the Massachusetts Historical Society, and the Children's Museum. Harvard University's museums include the Fogg Art Museum, the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, the Museum of Comparative Zoology, and the Botanical Museum. Other museums of note are the Whaling Museum in New Bedford, the Essex Institute in Salem, the Worcester Art Museum, the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, the Bunker Hill Museum near Boston, and the National Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield. In addition, many towns have their own historical societies and museums, including Historic Deerfield, Framingham Historical and Natural History Society, Ipswich Historical Society, Lexington Historical Society, and Marblehead Historical Society. Plymouth Plantation in Plymouth is a re-creation of life in the 17th century, and Old Sturbridge Village, a working historical farm, displays 18th- and 19th-century artifacts. The state had over 344 museums in 2000.