“BEAUTIFUL AND INSPIRING”
A TEN-YEAR RENOVATION TRANSFORMS PRINCETON’S FIRESTONE LIBRARY By Donald H. Sanborn III
“We
Exterior of Firestone Library. (Photo by Denise Applewhite, Office of Communications, Princeton University)
are in the position of a little child entering a huge academic unit” that embraces an “inclusive understanding…that investigates library whose walls are covered to the ceiling the myriad ways digital methods and technologies are opening new avenues for with books in many different languages,” Albert research into the human experience, past and present.” Einstein is quoted as saying. “The child notes a INCEPTION definite plan in the arrangement of the books, a mysterious order, which it does not comprehend but only dimly The Library History page of the website notes that the books suspects.” used by the original students of the College of New Jersey, as A 1941 photo of Einstein in his study is on display in the new Princeton University was known until 1896, came from the Ellen and Leonard Milberg Gallery of Princeton University’s personal collections of the school’s presidents, Aaron Burr Sr. Firestone Library, which is across from the University and Jonathan Dickinson. In 1750 Governor Belcher donated Chapel. The University has completed its ten-year renovation 474 books, making the library the sixth largest in the colonies. of Firestone, which was “focused on creating a building It originally was housed in a room on the second floor of Nassau that is well-suited to support modern library services and Hall, along with the Continental Congress. The Revolutionary contemporary approaches to scholarship, while also providing War did not destroy the library, but a fire in Nassau Hall did, in inspiring, flexible study and work spaces,” the University states 1802. Through the help of benefactors, the library’s collections in a press release. were rebuilt. The Milberg Gallery is one of two rooms that are open to However, the collection was deemed inadequate by the general public. The other is the Cotsen Children’s Library, President James McCosh, who came to Princeton in 1868. He which, during the renovation “underwent system upgrades complained to the trustees that the library was “insufficiently while maintaining its popular and imaginative décor,” says the supplied with books, and open only once a week — for one University. hour.” President McCosh saw that the library was open every “The speed and scale of change facing academic libraries day except Sunday, and acquired a building for the express in recent years has been unprecedented,” University Librarian purpose of housing the Chancellor Green Library, which opened Anne Jarvis notes in Town Topics, a sister publication of Bust of Harvey S. Firestone. next to Nassau Hall in 1875. Chancellor Green was filled to Princeton Magazine. “We are moving beyond the concept of a (Photo by Charles R. Plohn) capacity by 1897, so Pyne Library was added. Between them, library as a finite place with traditional collections — to that of the two libraries had acquired over a million volumes by the late 1940s, and again a library as a partner in research, teaching, and learning. Having state-of-the-art a new building was needed. facilities is essential to providing expert guidance, discoverability, and access to The Harvey S. Firestone Memorial Library opened in 1948, making it the first the world’s rapidly evolving knowledge resources.” large American university library built after World War II. It is named for Harvey Firestone also is home to Rare Books and Special Collections; the Scheide S. Firestone (1868-1938), the founder of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, Library, whose holdings include a Gutenberg Bible, medieval manuscripts, and one of the first global manufacturers of automobile tires. music manuscripts of Bach and Beethoven; and the Center for Digital Humanities By 1971 the library’s capacity again was exceeded, so two lower floors were — which, according to its website, “is an interdisciplinary research center and
Firestone Tower. (Photo by Shelley Szwast, Princeton University Library, Princeton University) MAY 2019 PRINCETON MAGAZINE
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