Princeton University. Library. Department of Rare Books and Special Collections

From its modest origins as a single room in Nassau Hall, the Princeton University Library has grown to become one of the foremost university libraries in the world. With collections totaling over 12 million volumes, manuscripts, and nonprint items spread across fifteen buildings, the Princeton University Library system serves not only the Princeton University community but the world at large.

The genesis of the Princeton University Library is nearly contemporaneous with the founding of the University itself. As early as 1750 small gifts of books had been made to the College by concerned benefactors and in 1754, only two years before the fledgling institution's relocation from Newark to Princeton, royal governor of New Jersey Jonathan Belcher donated his entire collection of 474 volumes. Even at this early point the Trustees clearly considered the acquisition and maintenance of a suitable library to be of a high priority, going so far as to earmark space in the new home of the College (the soon to be built Nassau Hall) as a sizable library room.

The formative years of the Library were marked by a steady growth in the size and breadth of the collections. By the time the first catalog of the Library's holdings was compiled by President Samuel Davies in 1760, the college could count 1,281 volumes in the second floor library room. The introduction of this initial catalogue laid forth a doctrine which would define the ethos of the Princeton University Library for the next 250 years. Said Davies, "A large and well-sorted Collections of Books on the various Branches of Literature, is the most ornamental and useful Furniture of a College and the most proper and valuable Fund with which it can be endowed." The philosophical leanings of Princeton's longest-serving 18th century president, the Scottish-educated Dr. John Witherspoon, also contributed heavily to the Library's early expansion. By the end of the century the catalogue listed 3,000 volumes and students were expected to pay a fee of 67 cents for the privilege of using the Library each session.

Calamity befell the College in 1802 when Nassau Hall was gutted by fire. Among the most hard-felt losses was the Library, of which only a handful of books were salvaged. Vigorous campaigning by the Trustees in the years 1802-1804 enabled the reconstruction of the collection through gifts and donations, and the Library took up residence in the newly constructed Stanhope Hall, where it would remain until 1855. Among the most vital changes to the Library in the 19th century was the increased role of the University Librarian. While various faculty members had held the position since 1768, it was always in a part-time capacity and subsidiary to other work. Beginning with Philip Lindsly in 1813, the Librarian began preparing periodic reports to the President on the status of the Library, outlining acquisitions, damages to volumes, and other notable information. The formation in 1830 of the Library Committee, a subgroup of the Board of Trustees, further signaled the Library's growing importance in the academic life of the College, and when Nassau Hall was again rebuilt after fire in 1860 the Library moved back to its original home, in what is now the faculty room.

Despite the continued growth of the collections and the support of the Trustees and the President, the potential of the Library was largely untapped until the administration of President James McCosh. Until 1868 with several brief periods of exception the Library itself was open to students only once a week for the distribution and exchanging of books. It was McCosh who first seized upon the need for a full-time librarian, and instituted new Library hours every day of the week except Sunday. These alterations to the Library increased accessibility and brought it much more in line with the needs of the student body and the institution in the face of an evolving curriculum.

If any other signifier was needed that the Library had entered a new modern age under McCosh it was the construction of the first freestanding library building on campus, the Chancellor Green Library. This striking octagonal structure fulfilled most of the Library's needs admirably, providing space for the University Librarian, shelving alcoves, and reading spaces for students. Nonetheless, by 1897 the growth of the collections necessitated an addition, which came in the form of the adjoining Pyne Library. Through two World Wars the pair of connected libraries stood as a focal point on campus while great strides were made inside of them by staff. Some of the notable University Librarians who called Chancellor Green and Pyne home include Frederick Vinton, who instituted the Library's first author/subject card catalog; Ernest Cushing Richardson, who established a unique classification system to meet the needs of the collection; and James Thayer Gerould, a founder of the Association of Research Libraries.

At the turn of the 20th century, the Princeton University Library appeared to have reached a point of stasis. Capable administration, suitable facilities, well-developed and well-catalogued collections, and ample room for expansion all seemed to point to a level of stability unseen in the Library's history. Despite this, by the 1920s shelf space in the libraries was again at a premium and it was readily apparent that any plan to alleviate crowding would necessitate a new Library building. The years of planning which preceded the opening of the Firestone Memorial Library in 1948 were characterized by a newfound recognition of the role of the University Library in the post-war era. No longer was space for volumes the primary concern, but rather it was viewed one element to be balanced against the needs of students and staff. With its open stacks, vast reading room, and many multi-purpose spaces the Firestone Library was an influential structure among university libraries.

Though the opening of the new library building was undoubtedly the defining moment of the Princeton University Library in the twentieth century, other seeds were planted early on which would eventually blossom to become hallmarks of the Library. Many of these were related to the diversification and increased specialization of the Library's collections. The continual growth of the Library's manuscript, rare book, and graphic arts collections ultimately led to the formation of the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections in 1948-1949. In particular, the efforts of mid-century University Librarians Julian Boyd and William S. Dix to acquire the papers of noted authors and publishing houses, as well as many gifts of private collections and other donations made possible by the Friends of the Princeton University Library, helped make Princeton a center for research. Subject-specific collections such as the Industrial Relations Section also came into being around this time, and subsequent additions or renovations to Firestone have provided space for numerous other specialized units.

While the monolithic Firestone stands as the center of the Princeton University Library, in the second half of the 20th century the University Library has also expanded into several satellite libraries around campus. These include the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, home of the university archives and the public policy collections; the Fine Hall Library, housing the math, physics, biology, and geosciences collections; the Engineering Library; the Marquand Library of Art and Archaeology; the Stokes Library for Public and International affairs; the Mendel Music Library; and several other annexes and special subject libraries. Notable also is the ReCAP facility on Forrestal Campus, a vast shelving facility operated by Princeton in conjunction with Columbia University and the New York Public Library. All told, the University Library encompasses fifteen separate facilities, all operating under a single administration and towards the common goal of supporting the University's focus on scholarship and learning.

University Librarians

Sim, Hugh 1768

Linn, James 1769(?)-1770

Houston, William Churchill 1770-1786

Snowden, Gilbert Tennent 1786-1787

Abeel, John Nelson 1793

Finely, Robert 1793-1794

English, David 1794-1796

Ely, Alfred 1804-1805

Kollock,Henry 1804-1806

Bayard, Samuel 1806-1807

Belknap, Hezekiah 1807-1809

Dunlap, William 1809-1810

Bergen, John 1810-1812

Lindsly, Philip 1812-1849

Maclean, John Jr. 1824-1849

Giger, George Musgrave 1849-1865

Cameron, Henry Clay 1865-1873

Vinton, Frederic 1873-1889

Richardson, Ernest Cushing 1890-1920

Gerould, James Thayer 1920-1938

Heyl, Lawrence (Acting 1939-1940)

Boyd, Julian Parks 1940-1953

Kelley, Maurice (Acting 1952)

Dix, William Shepard 1953-1975

Boss, Richard 1976-1978

Koepp, Donald W. 1978-1995

Klath, Nancy S. (Acting 1995-1996)

Trainer, Karin A. 1996-2016

Jarvis, Anne E. 2016-

From the guide to the Princeton University Library Records, 1734-2012, 1952-1995, (Princeton University. Library. Dept. of Rare Books and Special Collections.)