Library - Oregon State University - Corvallis, OR - American Guide Series on Waymarking.com

The LIBRARY (open 7:50 A.M.-io P.M. weekdays; 2-5 Sun.), built in 1918, is the only building on the East Quadrangle. The three stories and basement of the structure house 130,000 volumes, including an excellent collection on the history of horticulture, and about 1,400 periodicals. Of interest to bibliophiles is the Mary J. L. McDonald collection of more than three thousand volumes in fine bindings, and rare editions. Among its treasures are a page from the Polychronicon, Ranulph Higden, reprinted by William Caxton in 1482; a folio bible, printed in 1769 on the press of John Baskerville, and a pearl bible of 1853; a book of poems in Latin by George Buchanan (1506-82) from the Elzevir Press in 1628; and a fifteenth-century antiphonal, composed of Gregorian chants in Flemish, hand-printed and illuminated on parchment, bound in brown calf over the original board covers. Among the more valuable items is an illustrated set of the Gettysburg edition of the Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln, edited by Nicolay and Hay. Volume 24 contains autographs of Lincoln and other prominent men of his time. The set is valued at $4,800.

Kidder Hall (then called The Library) was built in 1918 to provide room for O.A.C.’s expanding library collection. Until then, the library had occupied limited space in Benton Hall. Ida Kidder, namesake of the building, became the college’s first professional librarian in 1908, and she urged the college to construct a new library site. College enrollment grew rapidly at this time and Kidder wanted the library to serve the needs of the growing student body. Finances to construct the library were finally secured in 1917. The building was completed just as World War I began, and, due to wartime shortages of money and labor, O.A.C. faculty volunteered to move the books to the new building. A trellis was built connecting the second floor of Benton Hall to the second floor of The Library, and the books were wheeled and carried over. Nearly half of the new building was available for classrooms and offices in 1918. However, by the mid-1920s the library collection demanded the entire building. In the late 1930s the library ran out of space and a west wing addition was approved by the State Board of Higher Education in 1940. The Library’s designer, John Bennes, drew plans for the west wing and included drawings for a matching wing on the east side. The building faced continued renovation within its walls to accommodate the expanding student body and library collection. In 1954 the building was renamed the William Jasper Kerr Library and another significant remodel occurred. However, space was still limited and, rather than build the planned east wing, the college began construction on a new library building in 1962. The building was renamed Kidder Hall in 1964 to coincide with the opening of OSU’s new library. The name Kidder Hall had previously occupied what is now Fairbanks Hall since 1927. Kidder Hall housed the University Archives until 1972. The building is now occupied by the College of Science Dean's office, Mathematics and Statistics departments, and Communication Media Center.