[citation needed] Later that year about 936 gourdes were spent for the purchase of 444 volumes ordered by Dr. François Fournier de Pescay.

[3] This library may have been destroyed during the 1860s, when political clashes saw the destruction of many items of cultural significance in Haiti.

These included some rare colonial-era books, maps and lithographs, and several important Haitian journals such as La Ronde and Haïti Littéraire.

However, sometime later three-fourths of the collection "mysteriously" disappeared, possibly during the government of François "Papa Doc" Duvalier (1957–1971).

The Library closed for repairs and subsequently re-opened, with a number of improvements and additions to the facilities, such as a new meeting room, which has been made available to young people.