Magill Library: Then and Now
Special Collections is in Magill Library, which is only the latest iteration of the Haverford College library. After the library was built in 1863, there have been four rounds of additions—in 1898, 1912, 1941 and 1967. One of the stars of my collection—William Morris Maier—was on the board of the College in the 1930s and 1940s, and was the chairman of the committee in charge of the 1941 addition. In his papers, I found two fascinating documents about that addition. Click on either picture to enlarge it.
The first is this architectural rendering of the library with the 1941 addition and without the 1967 addition, seen approximately from atop the roof of the north end of Leeds. The tree on the far right side of the image is the large tree near the current entrance of the library. The wall with the three buttresses and arched windows is now in the main lobby of Magill—the window closest to the inner corner is now the doorway to the old section of the library. The 1941 addition is the portion of the library with the tall rectangular windows—which is now the ‘old section’ of tiers 3-5. This view of the library is a rare one—there are unexpectedly few images of this the library from the 25-year period between this addition and the 1967 addition, when the profile of the library we know and love was completed.
The second document is a letter, presumably to alums, explaining the importance of this addition. It says that the library catalogs three to four thousand books each year and that there is no longer adequate space in the library for users or librarians. As a stopgap solution, the books of the Astronomy, Biology, Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics departments were moved from Magill—the beginning of the Science Library.
These documents provide a fascinating insight into the evolution of the current campus. It remains to be seen what the next library construction project will be—there’s still space for more books, but there’s talk of more renovations. When it happens, though, Special Collections will surely preserve images of the library in its current form for future generations of students.