 The Company's object was "the collection of a library of useful works of every description, for the benefit of its members, who might there successfully apply without comparatively any cost, for that mental good which they could not readily obtain elsewhere".For a membership fee of $1, African Americans of all classes were afforded an opportunity to further educate themselves.The library's members adopted a system of organized reading and weekly debate that enabled its members to practice elocution and public speaking.