Earl Gregg Swem Library
Encyclopedia
College of William and Mary
The College of William & Mary in Virginia is a public research university located in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States...
in Williamsburg
Williamsburg, Virginia
Williamsburg is an independent city located on the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia, USA. As of the 2010 Census, the city had an estimated population of 14,068. It is bordered by James City County and York County, and is an independent city...
, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The library is named for Earl Gregg Swem
Earl Gregg Swem
Dr. Earl Gregg Swem was an American historian, bibliographer and librarianSwem started his career whilst still in high school at the Iowa Masonic Library in Cedar Rapids, Iowa...
, College Librarian from 1920-1944. In 2008, the Princeton Review rated William & Mary's library system as the eighth best in the United States. The ranking was based on a survey of 120,000 students from 368 campuses nationwide.
Construction and renovations
Detailed discussions of plans for the library were held in 1963 and the groundbreaking ceremonies were held later that year on October 11, 1963, at Phi Beta Kappa Memorial HallPhi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall
Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall is a multi-use building at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, USA. It contains the largest auditorium on the campus, containing two floors of seating...
. The actual groundbreaking occurred a few weeks after the ceremonies. The cornerstone of the library was laid on October 22, 1964, and the building was scheduled for completion around December 1965. The building officially opened on January 4, 1966, although it was not fully complete. The official dedication ceremony for the library was held on Charter Day, February 12, 1966. The Tucker-Coleman Room of the library was dedicated on November 11, 1966.
At the time of its completion, the ground floor of Swem Library contained the Botetourt Gallery, an auditorium, the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture
Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture
The Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture was founded in 1943 and is jointly sponsored by The College of William & Mary and The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. In 1996, the College and Colonial Williamsburg added Omohundro to the Institute's name in recognition of a generous...
offices, a rare book room, an honors room, a museum, an audio/visual department, a film preview room, and a faculty lounge. The first floor contained a reserve room, an after-hours reading room, a reference department, and typing and meeting rooms. The second floor contained administration rooms, conference rooms, and stacks. There was a fire in the Botetourt Theater in 1972 that destroyed a projection booth. A Micro Computer Lab opened in the library on February 13, 1984.
Construction officially began on an addition to the front of the library on March 3, 1986, to provide extra stack space, reading areas, administrative offices, and a 24-hour study room and snack area. O.K. James Construction Co. led construction. The addition was dedicated on February 5, 1988. A seven-year renovation and expansion was officially completed in 2005 with rededication ceremonies officially marking the completion on February 5, 2005, during the College's Charter Day weekend.
Special Collections Research Center
The Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) of the Earl Gregg Swem Library of the College of William and MaryCollege of William and Mary
The College of William & Mary in Virginia is a public research university located in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States...
defines the history of the University and promotes and preserves the scholarly pursuits of its faculty, students, alumni, visiting scholars, and friends. The SCRC contributes to the College's scholarly reputation by providing the rare books and unique manuscript and archival materials that make primary research possible. The SCRC is located in the Warren E. Burger Special Collections Wing of Swem Library.
Manuscripts
The mission of the Manuscripts area of Special Collections is to provide primary source material for the College of William and MaryCollege of William and Mary
The College of William & Mary in Virginia is a public research university located in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States...
faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, and visiting scholars and researchers.
The Manuscripts Collections are primarily focused on Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
history from the 17th to the 21st centuries. They include the papers of many famous alumni and individuals who have shaped the course of Virginia and the nation. Among them are:
- Virginia Family Papers including the Blows, the Galts, the Taliaferros, the Tylers, the Blairs, the Robbs, the Carters, and the Armisteads
- The Tucker - Coleman Collection
- Local History and Genealogy Collections including the Williamsburg Historic Records Association and the Tyree Collection
- Distinguished Alumni Papers that include those of Thomas JeffersonThomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
.
Rare Books Collection
The Rare Books Collection is a growing collection that provides research opportunities in many areas of western thought and experience from history to religion and science to art. Like the Manuscript Collections the Rare Books Collection focuses primarily on Virginia history but includes collections that cover many other areas and interests that span the 15th through the 21st centuries.The Rare Books Collection is actually made up of many distinct collections which each focus on a particular subject area or a particular period in the history of the book. These libraries include:
- The general rare books collection which focuses mainly on Virginiana but contains books on historic gardening, military history, early American culture, travel accounts, science and medicine. There are seven beautiful incunabula (books printed before 1501) in the collection.
- Five family libraries in amongst the Rare Books. These are the Skipwith library, the Tucker - Coleman library, the Jerdone Library, the John Minson Galt library, and the John Millington Library. They all date from the 18th and 19th centuries.
- The Francis NicholsonFrancis NicholsonFrancis Nicholson was a British military officer and colonial administrator. His military service included time in Africa and Europe, after which he was sent as leader of the troops supporting Sir Edmund Andros in the Dominion of New England. There he distinguished himself, and was appointed...
Library is in the process of being acquired by Special Collections. The goal is to recreate the original library of the College of William and Mary given by the colonial governor before the 1705 fire destroyed all but the single volume that is left. More than 80 of the original 150 titles are now in the library. - The Ralph Green collection on printing and the Joseph Hennage collection on printing and the Carol Beinbrink collection on papermaking total more than 1,400 volumes on the history of the book as an object, with the oldest title being the Quadragesimale by Johannes Gritsch printed in 1479.
- The Ralph H. Wark Collection of fore-edge paintings. Fore-edge paintings are painted on the edges of the leaves of a book so that they can only be seen when the edges are fanned. Carefully rendered paintings like this date almost entirely from the late eighteenth to the late nineteenth centuries in England.
- The Chapin-Horowitz collection of cynogetica. This is the second largest collection of books about dogs in this country and continues to grow through its own endowment. It contains scholarly work that dates back to the sixteenth century as well as children's literature, breed guides, and the records of the American Kennel ClubAmerican Kennel ClubThe American Kennel Club is a registry of purebred dog pedigrees in the United States. Beyond maintaining its pedigree registry, this kennel club also promotes and sanctions events for purebred dogs, including the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, an annual event which predates the official...
.
University Archives
The University Archives is the memory of the College of William and MaryCollege of William and Mary
The College of William & Mary in Virginia is a public research university located in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States...
, documenting its history from before the founding in 1693 to the present. The wide variety of materials relating to the College and its people through the years includes official records created in the College's daily operations, photographs, publications, video and audio tape recordings, personal papers and books or articles written by or about past or current William and Mary people, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, and artifacts.
Warren E. Burger Collection
The Warren E. BurgerWarren E. Burger
Warren Earl Burger was the 15th Chief Justice of the United States from 1969 to 1986. Although Burger had conservative leanings, the U.S...
Collection consists of the lifetime professional and personal papers and memorabilia of the late Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, as well as of related acquisitions, collected by the College. The Warren E. Burger papers were given to the College of William and Mary by his son, Wade A. Burger in 1996. Warren Burger served as the 20th chancellor of the College of William and Mary from 1986-1993.
See also
- The Throne, a monthly newsletter created by Swem Library staff in order to inform students on available databases and technologies available