NEW LIBRARY WILL HOLD MOST VALUABLE BOOKS IN WIDENER

The new library which in now being constructed between Widener and the Union will shelter the University's "most irreplaceable and valuable manuscripts and printed books," according to William A. Jackson, assistant librarian in charge of the Treasure Room in Widener.

In its rare first editions and fragile documents the Treasure Room houses the source material for many of the scholarly works which have been written here, Jackson said.

Can't Name Value

No one could name the monetary value of the Treasure Room's wide variety of books and papers, he remarked, adding that it contains "one of the most important collections of sixteenth and seventeenth century material in the United States."

Noticing that some of the documents were disintegrating because of improper air conditioning, librarians have realized for the last few years that they had inadequate facilities for guarding and preserving their material.

Books More Available

"Industrial Cambridge atmosphere with its coal dust and high sulphur and chlorine content must inevitably affect the paper and bindings of many of our greatest treasures," Jackson observed. The new library will be equipped with the most modern air-conditioning in order that this disintegration can be prevented. We will be able to take care of our materiel in a manner never before possible."

"The new library will be equipped with ble books and manuscripts more easily available for study than at present, and will also provide greatly improved facilities for the public showing of important literary collections, according to Jackson, who said that "the library will be open to every accredited student and visiting scholar."

Architects have not yet decided upon some of the details of the building. At present University officials are attempting to obtain a contract for welding the steel girders of the building so as to avoid the noisy riveting which otherwise would be necessary. Although cheaper than welding, riveting would cause a terrific racket in the Yard, officials say.

Print Office in Building

Space for a printing office will be provided in the building, where Philip Hofer '20, lecturer on Fine Arts and curator of Printing and Graphic Arts, will conduct his course on "The History of the Book," using Treasure Room volumes as his material. Also for the first time next semester Jackson and Hofer will teach a new course on book collecting.

Among the many special collections which will be housed in the new library are those of Charles Eliot Norton; Charles Sumner and Harold Murdock, father of Professor Kenneth Murdock, Leverett House master; and the gifts of Thomas Carlyle, James Byrne, Mrs. Brandegee, Herbert Weir Smythe, John Stetson, George Herbert Palmer, Edward Percival Merritt, the Gay and William A. White families, and many other donors.