A.D. White Library
Andrew Dickson White, Cornell’s co-founder and first president, built a great library. Although seldom identified today as one of the foremost collectors of the 19th century, his achievements have left a remarkable legacy. Unlike other famous book collectors of his time—J. Pierpont Morgan, Henry Edwards Huntington, John Jacob Astor, and James Lenox—he did not establish an institution to house his personal collections of books and manuscripts. Instead, White gave his entire 30,000 volume library to the university he helped found.
The Andrew Dickson White Library, ca. 1900, was built to house the extensive book collection of Cornell’s first president. Large chandeliers provided electric light.
Courtesy of the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library
White’s great generosity reveals his utilitarian approach to collecting and, in his words, a “strong belief in the didactic value of books.” As an educator and historian he believed that one could not have a great university without a great library, and he wanted his books to be read and used.
His collections of materials on architecture, witchcraft, the Reformation, the French Revolution, Abolitionism and the Civil War were among the finest in the world during his lifetime.
Originally shelved in the large, three-story room within Uris Library that bears his name, White’s collections are no longer kept together in one place. In fact, many of his books went to the stacks in Olin Library when it opened. In recent years, most of White’s books have been transferred to the Division of Rare & Manuscript Collections for their continued protection and preservation. Today, the Andrew Dickson White Library is home to Uris Library’s collection of history books.
Originally, the Andrew Dickson White Library had an open archway into the adjacent Dean Room and skylights above, both features lost to later renovations.
Courtesy of the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library
It is perhaps more fitting and accurate to say that Andrew Dickson White built two great libraries, a large and significant personal collection, which he donated and added to his other library, Cornell University Library. White worked closely with the first librarian, Willard Fiske, during the university’s fledgling years to craft innovative policies for the library. He himself purchased its first books, and played an active role throughout his life in developing library collections. Even in his student days, White had considered the merits of the most prestigious European libraries, imagining what it would be like to build an important new research library.
A trace of this inspiration can be found in the stained-glass windows that line the room. They portray the crests of various Oxford and Cambridge colleges. In the north windows, for instance, the blue escutcheon contains the motto for Oxford University, “Dominus Illuminatio Mea.” Translated from Psalm 27, it means, “The Lord is my Light.”
The Andrew Dickson White Library is a popular study space for today’s Cornell University students.
When White offered his personal library to the university, he set two conditions. He asked that the university provide a suitable space—he stipulated a fire-proof room—and he requested that proper provision be made for the ongoing maintenance of his collections. That “suitable space” is the Andrew Dickson White Library. White played an active role in helping the architect, William Henry Miller, design and ornament this room.
The cataloging and maintenance of the collection became the responsibility of George Lincoln Burr, a graduate from the Cornell class of 1871. Burr was White’s personal secretary and librarian as well as the first curator of the White Historical Library. Originally hired by White when he was a Cornell sophomore, Burr worked closely with White in the development and care of his library. We can safely posit that after 1879, the White collection must be seen as a collaborative effort between the two scholars. Each traveled to Europe on extended book-buying tours. Burr, also a renowned professor in the Cornell History department, is given special credit for building and enriching the Library’s collections on the Reformation and witchcraft.
Burr’s portrait by Cornell art professor Christian Midjo is displayed on the north wall of the room. A drawing by R. H. Bainton shows Burr as (in Cornell historian Carl Becker’s words) an “indefatigable scholar and bibliophile . . . browsing and brooding in the stacks.”
The Andrew Dickson White Library is filled with art work, furniture, and artifacts from White’s academic and diplomatic careers. He served as U.S. minister to Germany while still president of Cornell, and later as minister to Russia. The large bell at the north end of the room is from Moscow and a number of the paintings and photographs mounted there depict Russian scenes. The two display cases hold his collection of plaster casts of European coins and medallions.
Originally, this space had skylights and an open archway into the adjacent Dean Room. Those features were lost to renovations, but the original three tiers of wrought- iron stacks still offer an open and dramatic display of their books. Upon first seeing these shelves filled with White’s books in September of 1891, Burr wrote that it “gave one such an idea of a multitude of books. You see and feel them all. They quite overawe one.” Setting the objective for the collection, he promised to make the White Library, in his words, “the great living, growing historical workshop of the University.”