Earl Gregg Swem Library | |
---|---|
Location | Williamsburg, VA, United States of America |
Type | Academic |
Established | 1966 |
Other information | |
Website | https://libraries.wm.edu/ |
The Earl Gregg Swem Library (colloquially Swem Library) is located on Landrum Drive at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. The library is named for Earl Gregg Swem, College Librarian from 1920-1944. [1] In 2008, the Princeton Review rated William & Mary's library system as the eighth best in the United States. [2] The ranking was based on a survey of 120,000 students from 368 campuses nationwide. [2]
Part of a series on the |
Campus of the College of William & Mary |
---|
Detailed discussions of plans for the library were held in 1963 [3] and the groundbreaking ceremonies were held later that year on October 11, 1963, at Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall. The actual groundbreaking occurred a few weeks after the ceremonies. [4] The cornerstone of the library was laid on October 22, 1964, and the building was scheduled for completion around December 1965. [5] The building officially opened on January 4, 1966, although it was not fully complete. [6] 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. [7]
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 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. [8] A Micro Computer Lab opened in the library on February 13, 1984. [9]
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. [10] 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.
The Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) of the Earl Gregg Swem Library of the College of William and Mary 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.
The mission of the Manuscripts area of Special Collections is to provide primary source material for the College of William and Mary faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, and visiting scholars and researchers.
The Manuscripts Collections are primarily focused on Virginia 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:
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 University Archives is the memory of the College of William and Mary, 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.
The Warren E. Burger 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.
Besides the main building, Swem Library also has several branch libraries on campus. [11]
There are four campus libraries that are part of Swem, but are housed within their respective departments:
These libraries are not organizationally part of Swem Library, but, with the exception of the Learning Resource Center, do share the library catalog:
The College of William & Mary is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1693 under a royal charter issued by King William III and Queen Mary II, it is the second-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and the ninth-oldest in the English-speaking world. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High Research Activity". In his 1985 book Public Ivies: A Guide to America's Best Public Undergraduate Colleges and Universities, Richard Moll included William & Mary as one of the original eight "Public Ivies". The university is among the original nine colonial colleges.
John Nichols Dalton was an American politician who served as the 63rd governor of Virginia, from 1978 to 1982. Dalton won the office with 55.9% of the vote, defeating Democrat Henry E. Howell Jr. and Independent Alan R. Ogden. Dalton had previously served as Lieutenant Governor of Virginia.
The Flat Hat Club is the popular name of a collegiate secret society and honor fraternity founded in 1750 at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.
Norborne Berkeley, 4th Baron Botetourt was a British Tory politician and colonial administrator who served as the governor of Virginia from 1768 to 1770, when he died in office.
Baron Botetourt is an abeyant title in the Peerage of England. It was created by writ of summons on 19 June 1305. It became abeyant in 1406, but was recalled from abeyance in 1764 for Norborne Berkeley. However, it became abeyant again on his death in 1770. It was recalled a second time in 1803 for the 5th Duke of Beaufort, and became a subsidiary title of the dukes of Beaufort until the death of the 10th Duke in 1984, when it became, and remains, abeyant.
The Sunken Garden is the central element of the Old Campus at the College of William & Mary. The garden consists of a long stretch of grass, about 2.7 acres (1.1 ha), lying lower than the surrounding area, that runs west from the rear of the Wren Building to Crim Dell pond. The area is very popular for students wanting to study outside or play games like Ultimate. Functionally, it is similar to a university quadrangle.
Earl Gregg Swem was an American historian, bibliographer and librarian. Swem worked at the Library of Congress and Virginia State Library, and for more than two decades was primary librarian at the College of William & Mary, where the Earl Gregg Swem Library was named in his honor.
The SS William and Mary was a Victory ship built during World War II.
The Seven Society, Order of the Crown & Dagger is the longest continually active secret society of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. The clandestine, yet altruistic group is said to consist of seven senior individuals, selected in their junior year. While, historically, graduating members formally announced their identities each spring, today's membership is steeped in mystery and is only revealed upon a member's death.
A number of secret societies operate at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, dating back to the founding of the nation's first known collegiate secret society, The F. H. C. Society, founded on November 11, 1750. Today several secret societies are known to exist at the college, including Bishop James Madison Society, the Flat Hat Club, the Ladies of Alpha, the Live Oak Society, the Phi Society, the Seven Society, the Society, the 13 Club, the W Society, the Wren Society, and the Zodiac Society.
Robert Saunders Jr. was an American politician and school administrator who served as president of the College of William and Mary from 1847 to 1848. Prior to that, Saunders served as professor of mathematics from 1833 to 1847. He also served as a Virginia state senator from 1852 to 1858 and as mayor of Williamsburg, Virginia in 1859 and 1868 as well as the head of Eastern State Hospital. His family papers are held by the Special Collections Research Center at the College of William and Mary.
John Stewart Bryan was an American newspaper publisher, attorney, and college president. He was the nineteenth president of the College of William and Mary, serving from 1934 to 1942. He also served as the fourth American chancellor of the college from 1942 to 1944.
John Edwin Pomfret was an American academic and administrator who served as the director of the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery and the twentieth president of the College of William & Mary.
Davis Young Paschall was the twenty second president of the College of William & Mary, serving from 1960 to 1971. Prior to that, he served as Superintendent of Public Instruction for the Commonwealth of Virginia from 1957 to 1960, during the state-decreed period of Massive Resistance. During his superintendency public schools in the state were closed by gubernatorial and legislative fiat and subsequently, Dr. Paschall took steps to reopen those schools during the federal requirements. His papers from his time as president of the College of William & Mary can be found in the Special Collections Research Center at the College of William & Mary.
Thomas Ashley Graves Jr. was an American academic who was the twenty-third president of the College of William & Mary, serving from 1971 to 1985. He next served as director of the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library from 1985 to 1992. His personal papers as well as his papers from his time as president of the College of William & Mary, are held by the Special Collections Research Center at the College of William & Mary.
The chancellor of the College of William & Mary is the ceremonial head of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States, chosen by the university's Board of Visitors. The office was created by the college's Royal Charter, which stipulated that the chancellor would serve a seven-year term. Henry Compton, Bishop of London, was named in the Charter as the college's first chancellor. Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Sandra Day O'Connor served as chancellor from 2005 until 2012 when Robert Gates assumed the office. He was installed as chancellor on February 3, 2012. He was re-invested for a second term on February 8, 2019.
The College of William & Mary has maintained a campus in what is now Williamsburg, Virginia, since 1693. The cornerstone of the Wren Building, then known as the College Building and the oldest surviving academic building in the United States, was laid in 1695. The college's 18th-century campus includes the College Building, the President's House, and Brafferton–all of which were constructed using slave labor. These buildings were altered and damaged during the succeeding centuries before receiving significant restorations by the Colonial Williamsburg program during the 1920s and 1930s.
St. George Tucker Hall is an academic building on the campus of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. Built in 1908–1909 from a design by Cady & See, it was William & Mary's first freestanding library and sits on what is now known as Old Campus. It is an early example of Colonial Revival architecture in Williamsburg that predated the Colonial Williamsburg restoration and reconstruction efforts. A 1928 expansion of Tucker Hall was designed by Charles M. Robinson, with a further renovation performed in 2009. The building is now named for St. George Tucker, who taught at the college. A statue of James Monroe, a U.S. president and alumnus of the college, was installed in front the hall in 2015.
Ewell Hall is an academic building on the campus of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. The building was constructed in 1925–1926 on what is now Old Campus, across from Tucker Hall on the Sunken Garden. It was originally named Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall for Phi Beta Kappa, an honor society founded at the College of William & Mary and the oldest such society in the United States. John D. Rockefeller Jr. attended the hall's 1926 dedication; during this visit, W. A. R. Goodwin convinced Rockefeller to participate in a restoration program that became Colonial Williamsburg.