The M. Carey Thomas Library, named after Bryn Mawr's first Dean and second president, is a former college library

Library

In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...

 in Bryn Mawr College

Bryn Mawr College

Bryn Mawr College is a women's liberal arts college located in Bryn Mawr, a community in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, ten miles west of Philadelphia. The name "Bryn Mawr" means "big hill" in Welsh....

, Pennsylvania. It was in use as a library until 1970, when the Mariam Coffin Canaday Library opened. Today, it is a space for performances, readings, lectures, and public gatherings.

History and description

The Great Hall, the reading room of the old library, was designed by Walter Cope (of Cope and Stewardson) in 1901 and built by Stewardson and Jamieson several years later. M. Carey Thomas

M. Carey Thomas

Martha Carey Thomas was an American educator, suffragist, and second President of Bryn Mawr College.-Early life:...

 played a large part in its construction, particularly by taking photographs and doing architectural research on the library's University of Oxford

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

 inspirations, and by helping the library's construction survive many hardships, such as Cope's death and financial trouble. Built with ashlar

Ashlar

Ashlar is prepared stone work of any type of stone. Masonry using such stones laid in parallel courses is known as ashlar masonry, whereas masonry using irregularly shaped stones is known as rubble masonry. Ashlar blocks are rectangular cuboid blocks that are masonry sculpted to have square edges...

 gray stone and lined with coffered oak paneling, the Great Hall was inspired by the dining hall at Wadham College, Oxford

Wadham College, Oxford

Wadham College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, located at the southern end of Parks Road in central Oxford. It was founded by Nicholas and Dorothy Wadham, wealthy Somerset landowners, during the reign of King James I...

 and features a king post truss ceiling painted by Lockwood de Forest with geometric renaissance

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

 patterns that continue down the wall, ending with tulip-bordered corbels that lie in between large, arch-shaped lead-paned windows, which flood the space with light. The windows' tracery is also modeled after Wadham College's dining hall, though without Wadham's stained glass

Stained glass

The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...

. This area was renovated and conserved by Voith & Mactavish Architects LLP. Carey Thomas asked Cope specifically, do not "copy the interior plan at any other college, as it was a plan worked out by us at Bryn Mawr for us own individual needs and so far as he and I knew absolutely unique."

The Great Hall was once the home of a Athena Lemnia statue (which was damaged in 1997) which is now located in a high alcove in the Rhys Carpenter Art and Archaeology Library. A papier-mâché cast of that Athena now stands in her stead at the Great Hall.

The library encloses a large open courtyard called "The Cloisters", which is the site of the College's traditional Lantern Night ceremony. The cremated remains of M. Carey Thomas and Emmy Noether

Emmy Noether

Amalie Emmy Noether was an influential German mathematician known for her groundbreaking contributions to abstract algebra and theoretical physics. Described by David Hilbert, Albert Einstein and others as the most important woman in the history of mathematics, she revolutionized the theories of...

 are in the courtyard cloister. According to her 1985 graduation address, alumna Katharine Hepburn

Katharine Hepburn

Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, stage, and television. In a career that spanned 62 years as a leading lady, she was best known for playing strong-willed, sophisticated women in both dramas and comedies...

 used to go skinny dipping

Skinny dipping

Nude swimming, colloquially called skinny dipping, is a term used to describe swimming naked.-Etymology:The term skinny dip, first recorded in English in the 1950s, includes the somewhat archaic word skinny, known since 1573, meaning "having to do with skin", as it exposed the naked...

 in the Cloisters fountain. A popular tradition

Tradition

A tradition is a ritual, belief or object passed down within a society, still maintained in the present, with origins in the past. Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes , but the idea has also been applied to social norms such as greetings...

 is for undergraduates to skinny dip before graduating and conveniently the fountain contains chlorinated water.

The building was declared a National Historic Landmark

National Historic Landmark

A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...

in 1991.