Daniel Poor Memorial Library often abbreviated as DPM Library is a century old college central library of the

American College, Madurai The American College, often referred to as American College, is one of the oldest colleges in India, located in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded in 1881 by United States, American Christian missionaries. The red-brick buildings, in the Indo-S ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

that officially began its functions on June 28, 1915.

History

Samuel A Morman, the granddaughter of Dr.

Daniel Poor Daniel Poor (27 June 1789 – 3 February 1855) was an American Presbyterian missionary and educator, and the founder of the first English School in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Poor was born in Danvers, Massachusetts, Danvers, Massachusetts, United States. H ...

, was the key person to build the library building by donating $25,000 to the American Board of Missionaries on January 26, 1926. Between 1914 and 1920, J. A. Sanders was the first

librarian A librarian is a person who professionally works managing information. Librarians' common activities include providing access to information, conducting research, creating and managing information systems, creating, leading, and evaluating educat ...

. The stack room at the library houses more than 76,000 volumes.

Collections

The library holds archaeological artifacts and ancient coins of

Pandyan Dynasty The Pandya dynasty (), also referred to as the Pandyas of Madurai, was an ancient Tamil dynasty of South India, and among the four great kingdoms of Tamilakam, the other three being the Pallavas, the Cholas and the Cheras. Existing sinc ...

Cholas The Chola dynasty () was a Tamil dynasty originating from Southern India. At its height, it ruled over the Chola Empire, an expansive maritime empire. The earliest datable references to the Chola are from inscriptions dated to the 3rd cen ...

as well. Many ancient palm leaf script copies like

Tiruvacakam ''Thiruvasagam'' () is a volume of Tamil language, Tamil hymns composed by the 3rd century Shaivite ''bhakti'' poet Manikkavasagar. It contains 51 compositions and constitutes the eighth volume of the Tirumurai, the sacred anthology of the Tami ...

Manimekalai ''Maṇimēkalai'' (, ), also spelled ''Manimekhalai'' or ''Manimekalai'', is a Tamil Buddhist epic composed by Kulavāṇikaṉ Seethalai Sataṉar probably somewhere between the 2nd century to the 6th century. It is an "anti-love story", a ...

are also archived. Correspondence between the Indian Government and The American Missionaries, wood carvings from Nayak period, five metal bronze statues of

Vishnu Vishnu (; , , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism, and the god of preservation ( ...

and other

Hindu gods Hindu deities are the gods and goddesses in Hinduism. Deities in Hinduism are as diverse as its traditions, and a Hindu can choose to be polytheistic, pantheistic, monotheistic, monistic, even agnostic, atheistic, or humanist.Julius J. Lipne ...

, Indonesian wood carvings and wooden statues are in the collections.

References

{{Authority control Libraries in Tamil Nadu American Ceylon Mission Libraries established in 1915