John Thomson (1835–1916)[1] was the first head librarian of the Free Library of Philadelphia.

Thomson was born in Norfolk, England and attended St. Paul's School, London.

[2] Before the Free Library of Philadelphia, Thomson was the private librarian of Jay Gould and Clarence H.

[3] When the library opened in March 1894, Thomson's mission statement was "Free Books for All".

[4] He compiled a bibliography of all the incunabula in the US and purchased a number of rare books for the library, including Walter Arthur Copinger's collection of 500 incunabula and fourteen Portuguese antiphonaries given to the College of Saint Jerome by King John III.