|
|
|
|
|
||
The Library in University HallThe new classroom and administration building, University Hall, was constructed of Joliet limestone in Gothic style. Its construction marked a major step forward for the young university. The three-story building, 70 by 100 feet, also contained a basement and an attic. The basement housed a laboratory and lecture room. The main floor included a large classroom, also used as a chapel, and faculty offices. The second and third floors held additional classrooms and faculty offices, and on the third floor on the north end a large 70-by-20-foot library room. The attic housed the museum and dormitory space. The library was used primarily by the faculty. Since courses were taught from textbooks, the students who did use the library tended to be members of the three debating societies: Hinman, founded in 1855; Adelphi in 1860; and the Ossoli Literary Society for women in 1874. These held weekly meetings which were well attended and provided both intellectual and social activity on campus. At this time students did not enjoy borrowing privileges. The new librarian, David Hamilton Wheeler, professor of English literature and history, had just served a 2-year term as ad-interim university president. On his very first inspection of the library, December 1, 1869, he found the boxes of books from Old College on the floor still unpacked, since no provisions had been made for shelves in the new library quarters. At the Board of Trustees meeting in March of 1870, the university agent was authorized to have shelving constructed for the library "on all walls of the library room." The earliest extant photograph of the library (1875) shows floor to ceiling shelves, large tables, chairs for 18 readers, gas light fixtures, two stoves, and a woodbox. The library now had the surprising number of 13 periodicals, eight American and five "foreign"; and 10 newspapers from Evanston, Chicago, New York, Washington, and St. Louis, as well as six religious and five college newspapers. Fifteen of the titles were gifts from publishers and faculty. In July of 1870, the 20.000-volume Schulze library arrived from Germany, and Wheeler, with the help of Bonbright, spent the summer putting it in order. In 1873, the 1,5000-volume library of Professor Noyes was purchased for $1,250 perhaps not so much because of the value of the collection itself but to provide for the widow of a cherished colleague; Mrs. Noyes was paid 8% of the library's value per annum for her lifetime. The addition of the Noyes collection filled the balance of the library's shelving. On May 26, 1876, Senator John A. Logan arranged to have the library designated as a depository for U.S. government publications, a status which proved to be of immeasurable benefit to the library during the ensuring years. In 1878, 800 volumes on business and politics were purchased from the widow of Oliver A. Willard, brother of Frances Willard, by Trustee Lyman Gage and William Deering and donated to the library. In 1873 Wheeler resigned and was replaced by Charles William Pearson, instructor in German. Pearson was succeeded in 1875 by W. H. Daniels, a Methodist minister and instructor of Biblical literature and the last faculty member to serve as librarian. In 1876 Horace Gray Lunt, son of university founder and library benefactor Orrington Lunt, was named librarian. For the next 10 years Lunt was listed in the university Catalogue as librarian. Lunt had studied law, been admitted to the bar in 1873, and maintained a law office in Chicago. While he donated his services to the library, it seems that because of the demands of his law practice, he was compelled to serve nominally as librarian save for the submission of an occasional report to the president. During Lunt's tenure, the day-to-day functions of the library appear to have been carried out by a succession of student "librarians" directed by Dr. Bonbright and the Library Committee. In 1886 Lunt resigned in order to move for reasons of health to Colorado Springs, where he later became a prominent judge. Keeping the University Hall library open had always been a problem for the faculty-librarians, and from the beginning they had appointed older students as "assistant librarians" in order to cover the hours that they could not be present. For $100 the student was expected to keep the library open weekdays from 1:00 to 5:00 P.M. throughout the school year, guard the collection, and tend the fire. A sharp student protest excoriating the practice of short hours and seemingly perpetual absence of the faculty-librarian was published in the campus newspaper The Tripod on November 19, 1874. Student home loans apparently were not permitted until 1876, and then were limited to only 1 week. Overdue fines were set at $.02 a day and the first fines was collected on January 15, 1878. Three of the student assistants from this period, James Taft Hatfield, ('83), George E. Wire ('83), and Lodilla Ambrose ('87), later achieved prominence in their professions. Hatfield, assistant for the 1882-83 school year, had earlier published a description of the Schulze collection in the Tripod called "Some Old Books in Our Library," which caught the attention of the librarian and won him the assistant's job. After graduating, Hatfield earned a PH.D. at Johns Hopkins and taught at various universities and colleges, returning in 1890 to Northwestern as professor of German. He enlisted in the Navy during the Spanish-American War, rose to the rank of captain, and returned to the university where he served for 44 years as chairman of the German Department, succeeding Bonbright as chairman of the Library Committee in 1911. The decades of change following the Civil War had a significant impact upon the philosophy of education. Gradually, the traditionally rigid curriculum, dominated by the Greek and Latin classics, was revised. Beginning in 1883, the number of required Latin and Greek courses was lowered and electives in history, science, and German were added. For the first time, students could work for special honors in a field of their choice. These changes had an effect on what was expected of the library by both faculty and student and there was even more pressure to keep the library open longer. Accordingly, in 1883 all faculty were issued keys to the library, and in the fall of 1885 a full-time librarian was finally hired. George E. Wire was the first librarian to be employed, at a yearly salary of $300. The library was open from 9:00 A.M. to 12, and 2:00 to 4:00 P.M., Monday through Friday, and from 9:00 to 12 on Saturday. During vacations it was open at least once or twice a week. Wire resigned in December 1887 and enrolled in the Columbia College Library School. Subsequently, he was librarian of Newberry Library's Medical Department from 1890 to 1895, cataloged the collection of the Northwestern Medical School Library from 1895 to 1898, and spent the rest of his career as librarian of the Worchester County Law Library in Massachusetts. Lodilla Ambrose who replaced Wire, began work January 1, 1888, and was to be in charge for 19 years. The following year the faculty formalized Ambrose's appointment as "assistant librarian" and voted to discontinue the practice of naming a faculty member as librarian. Ambrose graduated from Northwestern with an A.B. in 1887 and was granted a Master's of Philosophy by the university in 1888 in recognition of self-advancement. In 1893 the university Phi Beta Kappa chapter retroactively elected her to membership. Although she had no formal library training, she was well informed in modern library procedures, which she implemented during her tenure. She held memberships in the American Library Association and the Chicago Library Club. where she served as treasurer in 1893. Throughout her administration, Ambrose submitted annual reports to the president although the Library Committee controlled the departmental book funds and made major decisions. In 1888 the library consisted of three rooms, the main reading room and two adjoining rooms which had been acquired in 1882, named "Latin and Greek" and "French and German." The collection had grown from 3,500 in 1869 to 26,000 volumes, and 8,000 government publications in 1888. the library's seating capacity was limited to 50, while the Evanston enrollment had risen to 500. Evening hours were instituted in 1891 as a result of a student petition and Ambrose reported that "there has been a steady and appreciative use of the library ... that justifies the extension of the time." Henry Wade Rogers, inaugurated as university president in 1890, recognizing the library's pressing needs, appealed to the trustees for funds for a new building. In 1891 Orrington Lunt offered $50,000 for a new building on the condition that the university provide an equal amount. Shortly thereafter, Mrs. Robert M. Hatfield donated $5,000 in memory of her husband, an additional $10,000 was received in small amounts from other friends of the university, and the trustees provided the balance from general funds, thus assuring construction of the much-needed building.
Click here to read next section: The Orrington Lunt Library |
|
||
 |
|
|
| Rev: March 3, 2001 | |
|
|
Internal Links: NUcat
| Electronic Resources | Course
materials and reserve | Electronic
reference tools | Catalogs from other libraries
External NU Links: Northwestern Home | Calendar: Plan-It Purple | Search | Directories Northwestern University Library · 1970 Campus Drive · Evanston, IL · 60208-2300 © Copyright 2005 Northwestern University Library. World Wide Web Disclaimer and Policy Statements |
||
