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100
Years at the Center of Campus
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| Library staffers then
(1954) and now (click on image for larger
view). |
This Thursday, May 27,
fittingly marks the end of a memorable year. May 27, 1910,
was the date on which the Smith Library (later named Neilson)
was officially dedicated. This year,
punctuated with lectures, musical performances and a major
retrospective exhibition, celebrated the .
The ceremony was recorded
in the June 1910 issue of the Smith
College Monthly magazine: "On
Friday afternoon, May 27, at half after three the formal
opening of the Library took place in Assembly Hall. Members
of the New England Library Association were present, as well
as the faculty, students and friends of the college. President
Seelye prefaced the dedicatory speech by giving a short history
of the growth of our library..." D.W. Dawson Johnston, librarian
of Columbia University, spoke on "Ideals in Library Administration” for
the occasion. Miss Clark, head librarian, spoke as well on
the need for additional monies for the library endowment.
A few months later, President
Seelye wrote about the final achievements of his term in
office, the Library and the Assembly Hall: “These two buildings
are the most expensive and, in many respects, the most satisfactory
of any on the campus. The Library provides ample space for
the storage of books…and
more space than is usual for readers.” The Assembly Hall
was named for John M. Greene in 1911. In 1946, following
the sudden death of William Allan Neilson, the Library was
named in his honor.
Today, the four Smith College
Libraries collectively house 1.5 million volumes with 1.2
million additional items in other formats (manuscripts, maps,
DVDs, etc.). The Libraries also provide access to more than
140 scholarly electronic databases in all the major disciplines
taught at Smith.
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