Walter Loomis Newberry

Newberry, a Chicago banker and property speculator, died at sea in 1868, and his will left half his estate for a free public library if his daughters died without heirs, which they did. The Newberry Library opened in 1887 as an independent research library in the humanities. It is free to use for anyone over fourteen with a reader's card, and its collections on maps, genealogy and Native American history are heavily used.