On September 5, 1646, Bishop Palafox and Mendoza donated his personal library, composed of five thousand volumes, to the seminarians of the Tridentine colleges, ordering that it could be consulted by anyone who wanted to read or study, so it is considered The first public library of the American continent.
Since then, it was established in the former Colegio de San Juan, in the heart of the city of Puebla.
Named in 1981, Historic Monument of Mexico for its beautiful emblem enclosure of the Baroque Novohispano; and in 2005, included by UNESCO as part of the Memory of the World program for its old-fashioned bibliographic collection; The Palafoxiana Library is now a book museum and continues its work as a universal library. In addition, it has a Playful Room to spread librarian arts among children.