Banff Public Library (BPL) was founded in 1949 through the work of the Junior Chamber of Commerce. First located in the basement of the Banff Clinic. In 1962, Peter and Catharine Whyte along with their sister-in-law, Barbara Whyte, provided space for the Library in a private home at 111 Bear Street. In 1968 the Library moved to a shared space with the Archives of the Canadian Rockies. In 1974, BPL became a full-fledged municipal library, financed by local taxes and government grants. In 1984, the Whyte Foundation, seeking a shaded space for its growing collection, offered the Library Board a sub-lease for the building of a new library. On April 1985 the current library official opened and holds 37,000 books and audiovisual materials.