Library - Columbia, South Carolina
Posted by: 
BruceS
N 33° 59.898 W 081° 01.790
17S E 497244 N 3761967
Historic library on the campus of the University of South Carolina in Columbia.
Waymark Code: WMGPD9
Location: South Carolina, United States
Date Posted: 03/27/2013
Views: 2
The LIBRARY, NW. corner of the quadrangle, is a three-story structure with four immense Doric columns forming a front portico and a vine-clad bay in the rear accommodating the main stairway. Ivy on the walls is from cuttings brought by Lieber from Kenilworth Castle, England. Showing Mills's influence, the design was submitted by faculty members, the architect unknown. Fireproof wings were added in 1927. From the wide hall of the first floor stairs ascend and doors open on the reading: room and stacks. From these rooms spiral staircases wind up to the main library and continue to balconies on the third floor. Around the walls of the principal library room, where the senate met, 1865-8,arched alcoves with supporting buttresses are trimmed with fluted panels and Corinthian capitals. Adorning the walls of this room and the hall are portraits and busts of ancient scholars, professors, trustees,and alumni of the university. Most notable is the marble bust of W. C. Preston, by Hiram Powers.
In the west wing, second floor, is the museum, in which is the armchair, or 'quasi-throne,' used by South Carolina proprietary governors at Charleston, 1670-1719. The third floor, west wing, contains a valuable collection of South Caroliniana. The library has about 125,000 volumes; some 25,000 are in special departmental libraries. Among the priceless books is the elephant folio edition (1827-38) of Audubon's The Birds of America. The board of trustees announced in 1940, the centennial of the building of the library, that after the completion of the new one, the old library will be devoted to South Carolina books and manuscripts. - South Carolina: A Guide to the Palmetto State, Columbia section , pg. 227.
This section of the Guide is discussing various buildings on the campus of the University of South Carolina. The library is now known as the South Caroliniana Library. Built in 1840, it is the oldest free standing college library in the country. It was replaced as the main library when a new library was built in 1940. It now a repository for published and unpublished materials relating to the history, geography, literature, and culture of South Carolina.