WUSTL Archives

In 1954, Chancellor Ethan A.H. Shepley and the University privately launched a three-year, $20 million Second Century Campaign, the second-largest capital fund drive conducted by any U.S. university at the time. When the campaign went public with a four-day convocation in February 1955, it was thought that some of the campaign funds should be used for a new library. The library had been housed in Ridgley Hall and was built to accommodate 70,000 volumes for 300 students. In the 1950s, the student body numbered more than 5,000 and the library's holdings included more than a half-million volumes. In 1960, official groundbreaking began on the John M. Olin Library (in an artist's rendering from 1956, above), designed by Murphy and Mackey. The library was completed in 1962 and stayed pretty much the same for the next 40 years before undergoing extensive renovation and rehab in 2001-04. The rededication ceremony for the "new" library will be at 3:30 p.m. today.

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Washington University is celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2003-04.

Special programs and announcements will be made throughout the yearlong observance.