Overview In 1857, philanthropist George Peabody gave the amount of $300,000 for the funding of a library in the city of Baltimore, Maryland. The construction of what was then known as the Library of the Peabody Institute (also the Peabody Institute Library) in Mount Vernon-Belvedere neighborhood began in 1858. Due to the difficulties of opening such a library during the Civil War (1861-1865), the building was not officially dedicated to the public until 1866 and 1878, the west wing and east wing,...