History Tours:

Discover the True Story of the American Library in Paris

The American Library in Paris invites you to register for a History Tour. Come visit us in person at 10 rue du Général Camou and discover:

  • Our origin story, when our Library grew out of a collection of books donated to the Doughboys fighting alongside Allied troops in WWI
  • The establishment of the American Library in Paris as a private library
  • The famous writers of the Lost Generation (Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, Henry Miller, and more) who explored our stacks during their time in Paris
  • The Paris Library School, which brought American innovations to French libraries in the 1920s
  • The true stories of the brave librarians who kept the Library open during the Occupation of WWII
  • How the Library has evolved over its 105-year history into the largest English-language lending library on the European continent

All tours are on Fridays at 11h00, last one hour, and take place in person at the American Library in Paris.

Tours are free of charge and open to the public. Pre-registration is required.

For groups of 5 or more and any other inquiries, please email tours@americanlibraryinparis.org.

If you represent a school and would like to organize a tour of the Library for a student group, please contact partnerships@americanlibraryinparis.org.

This initiative is made possible through the generous support of the Florence Gould Foundation and the American Center for Art and Culture.

Upcoming Tour Dates: Register Now

Please check back as we add more tour dates.

Tours marked “1920s” will focus on the Library’s origin story and history during “Les Années Folles.”

All other tours offer an overview of our 105 years of service.

Friday 6 June 2025 at 11am: Century of Service
Friday 13 June 2025 at 11am: Century of Service
Friday 20 June 2025 at 11am: Century of Service
Friday 27 June 2025 at 11am: Century of Service
Friday 4 July 2025 at 11am: Century of Service
Friday 11 July 2025 at 11am: Century of Service

Your Guide

Tour leader Mayanne Wright is an author, developmental editor, and educator. She has collaborated on over 100 French, Spanish, and English language, literature, and culture textbooks, books in a variety of other disciplines, and works of creative nonfiction. In addition to her writing and editing work, Mayanne gives talks and walking tours on all things French. She has participated as a lecturer in the Library’s Embassy-sponsored outreach program, On the Road.

Mayanne has been a Library volunteer since 2017, assisting with evening and donor events, shelving, and notably, conducting research in the Library’s institutional archives.