Library endures century of service
Early books had trouble
finding the right shelves
By DEBBIE HOWLETT
Ot «h» Em«ik)
The University library is cele
brating its centennial year. This
is the first of a three part series
that will dust off the cobwebs
and wander the halls of the ar
chives
A year after the University
opened Its doors in 1876, a col
lection of books belonging to
the Eugene Library Association
was purchased and moved to
campus The several hundred
volumes, costing $250, became
a functioning library
The first real" library came in
1881 as a result of a $1,000
grant from a wealthy railroad
magnate named Henry Villard,
who chose the books personal
ly The books were housed in a
math and astronomy profes
sor's classroom on the first floor
of Deady Hall
From these inauspicious
beginnings came the library that
now serves the campus and
community with over 15 million
volumes and an accumulated
worth of $19 5 million The li
brary now boasts more than
800,000 seperate titles
The first space allocated for a
library was a small corner room
in the basement of Villard Hall
The library was then shuffled
from Villard to Deady to Collier
Hall — now the faculty club In
1900 it was moved to the
basement of a men's dormitory,
then called Friendly Hall, where
it stayed until the first library
building was built
That structure was ready in
1908 The bottom floor was
used as a library and the top two
floors were classrooms The li
brary was housed here until
1937, when the present library
was finished
Increasing enrollment after
World War I put a heavy strain
on the old building and the li
brary was de-centralized so that
the architecture and allied arts
library and the law library were
housed in seperate buildings, as
they are today
W D Fenton donated 9,000
books valued at $50,000 in
1921 Fenton later donated a
large number of volumes for the
law library
There were additions to the
building over the years but the
student population and the
number of books grew faster
than the building
In 1927 the first rumblings for
a newer library were heard
Pres Arnold Hall, in a letter to
the board of regents, said, "The
Library, which has size and
space for a student body less
than half our size, although
spread out in different parts of
three buildings is hopelessly
inadequate."
Despite the strong language,
Photo courtesy of the University Library Archives
In 1906, Fenton Hall housed the growing University library. It remained there until 1937, when the
present structure was completed.
construction on the proposed
$450,000 building did not begin
until September, 1935
It was at this time that the first
report of bookworms leaked
out These were of the bug var
iety — not over-zealous
students The bugs preferred
eating volumes to reading them
but actually did little damage to
the 193.000 volumes
It was also during this period
that money from library grant
funds financed the building of a
new arena The arena was
officially called McArthur Court
but soon developed the nick
name, the “igloo.”
Philanthropists not supporting library, says prof
If pioneer philanthropist Henry Villard
could visit the University today he would
probably be proud of its library with its
impressive collections and the support of
the faculty and students
However, according to professor
Harold Maxwell Brown. Villard would
notice one crucial element missing from
the library — a generous benefactor such
as himself
Brown, a Pacific historian, says the
University s library hasn't seen any
philanthropists such as Henry Villard
recently
“What have the Weyerhausers, the
Newhouses and other wealthy Oregon
ians done for the support of the
Univervsity? The answer is very little.''
Brown said Monday evening as he lec
tured on "Henry Villard and the Univer
sity Library'' in Gerlinger Lounge
The lecture was jointly sponsored by
the Friends of the Library and the
University's Centennial Project Commit
tee as part of the year-long observance
of the library's centennial year
As a former Bavarian emigrant arriving
nearly penniless in America and speak
ing no English. Villard found his way to
the American dream and an eventual
railroad empire the hard way, says
Brown
Villard, best known as the builder of
the first railroad joining the Pacific
Northwest with the rest of the country,
believed the American educational sys
tem played a crucial role in his success
This belief would later contribute to a
deep-seated commitment to the support
of the University library
Although Villard donated heavily to
several Northwest educational institu
tions, the University of Oregon, and its
library in particular, was the focus of
Villard's generosity
According to Brown, Villard contribut
ed a gift to the library that would amount
to about $500,000 in 1981 dollars
The first load of Villard's gift of books
arrived at the University via Wells-Fargo
stagecoach in the spring of 1882 The
arriving crates contained an impressive
352 volumes of world classics in every
educational discipline The volumes
were personally selected and accom
panied by Villard himself
The Villard family's philanthropy was
continued by his widow and later by his
son
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