New Library - University of Oregon - Eugene, OR - American Guide Series on Waymarking.com

The NEW LIBRARY (open 8-5 weekdays), built with a view to future expansion, was erected with the aid of a Federal grant and loan in 1936. It has desk and table space for a thousand readers, and stack room for 400,000 books. Among the 275,000 volumes are several collections. The Edward S. Burgess Rare Book Collection contains 500 volumes of manuscripts and incunabula purchased by friends of the university. Dr. and Mrs. Burt Brown Barker presented 1,000 volumes, including works by Shelley, Byron, Browning, Stevenson and others. The Pauline Potter Homer Collection of Beautiful Books comprises 800 volumes noteworthy for their fine bindings and illustrations, and as examples of the work of famous presses. There is also a collection of pamphlets and books about Oregon and by Oregon writers, another comprising 2,000 school and college textbooks, the F. S. Dunn collection of historical fiction, the Overmeyer collection of published works on the Civil War, the Camilla Leach collection of art books, a collection of League of Nations documents (1,050 volumes), and a collection of works by Balzac.

Original Structure(1937). Architect: Lawrence, Holford, and Allyn.

By the mid-1920s, the "Old Libe"( now Fenton Hall) had inadequate space to hold library materials even with its 1916 addition. Library collections were stored in several campus locations, including the second floor of Condon Hall. As a consequence of the Depression, Librarian Matthew Douglass with the strong support of Senator Fred Steiwer as able to obtain funding for a new library as a Public Works Administration project. The cost of the library, approximately $460,000, was paid through US gifts and loans and support from alumni and friends -- no state funds were expended for construction. Construction began on September 17, 1935; the new building opened on May 3, 1937. The Library terminated the south axis of Lawrence's plan which originally envisioned a Memorial Auditorium at that site. Significant additions were added in 1950, 1966, and 1993/94 but the exterior integrity, and much of the interior design, remains intact. In the Ellis Lawrence Building Survey, architectural scholar Michael Shellenbarger called the Library "a monument to the depression era PWA and WPA programs which financed it, " and "one of Oregon's best examples of the integrated art and architecture that characterized that last great surge of public building before WWII and the postwar period when such buildings were no longer in favor." The Library's rich interior features work by Fredrick Baker (lighting), Brownell Frasier (interior and textiles), exterior sculpture (Edna Dunberg and Louise Utter); ironwork (O. B. Dawson), landscaping (Fred Cuthbert); and murals (Arthur and Albert Runquist), among many others.

Addition (1950). Architect: Lawrence, Tucker and Wallman.

Addition (1966) . Architect: Clare K. Hamlin and B. King Martin. This addition added 100,000 sq.ft. to the 1937 building.

Addition and Renovation (1994). Architect: TBG Architects and Planners (Eugene); Shepley Bulfinch Richardson Abbott (Boston), design consultants. The third addition to the 1937 facility added 132,000 square feet. Additions were completed by 1993 and substantial renovations were finished by the summer, 1994. The $27,000,000 award-winning project was enriched by extensive Percent for Art acquisitions. As a priority for the Campaign for Oregon fundraising initiative, a third of the building's cost came through private and corporate gifts. In 1994, the building was named in honor of the family of Philip Knight, President and CEO of Nike, Inc. ~source