The John Crerar Library is a research library, which after a long history of independent operations, is now operated by the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
. Throughout its history, the library's technology resources have made it popular with Chicago-area business and industry. Though privately owned and operated, the library continues to provide free access to the public for the purpose of conducting research in science, medicine and technology.
Established in 1894, the library which first opened to the public April 1, 1897, is named for
John Crerar, who endowed the library, and who gained his wealth by founding a railroad supply firm.
History
John Crerar died in 1889. His will donated approximately $2.6 million of his estate to Chicago as an endowment for a free public library, selected "to create and sustain a healthy moral and Christian sentiment, and that all nastiness and immorality be excluded." To comply with Crerar's wishes without duplicating existing area libraries, the directors decided to limit the collections to the sciences, including the history of science. In 1906, the directors expanded the library's mission to include medicine. Since 1951, the collection has focused on current science, technology, and medicine.
In 1891, Crerar's friends lobbied the Illinois state legislature to enact a law to protect privately funded libraries, entitled, "An Act to Encourage and Promote the Establishment of Free Public Libraries in Cities, Villages and Towns of this State."
On October 12, 1894, the library was incorporated under that law. However, Crerar's relatives contested his will and then appealed issue to the
Illinois Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Illinois is the state supreme court, the highest court of the judiciary of Illinois. The court's authority is granted in Article VI of the current Illinois Constitution, which provides for seven justices elected from the fiv ...
. On June 19, 1893, the will was sustained.
The Crerar Library opened in the Marshall Field building, moving in 1921 to its own building at the northwest corner of Randolph Street and Michigan Avenue. The Board of Directors of the library established a building fund with the 1889 endowment and set out to gain approval for a
Grant Park location. In 1902, the
Chicago City Council
The Chicago City Council is the legislative branch of the Law and government of Chicago, government of the Chicago, City of Chicago in Illinois. It consists of 50 alderpersons elected from 50 Wards of the United States, wards to serve four-year t ...
approved the plan, but public criticism forced the design to be built on the Northwest corner of
Michigan Avenue.
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
postponed groundbreaking of the 16-story
Holabird & Roche
The architect, architectural firm now known as Holabird & Root was founded in Chicago in 1880. Over the years, the firm has changed its name several times and adapted to the architectural style then current — from Chicago school (architectu ...
design until 1919. When the building reached its capacity in the 1950s, the library's directors decided to affiliate with a university. The directors contracted with the
Illinois Institute of Technology
The Illinois Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Illinois Tech and IIT, is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Tracing its history to 1890, the present name was adopted upon the m ...
to provide library services for its campus. In 1962, the library moved into a new building that was designed by architect
Walter Netsch. It was a facility with an international modern design inspired by
Mies van der Rohe. During its 22 years located on the IIT campus, the John Crerar Library remained a separate organization, with IIT reimbursing the costs attributable to it.
By the mid-1970s, however, the library had out-grown that building, and in 1980 Crerar and IIT agreed to terminate the contract within four years. On April 13, 1981, the directors agreed to consolidate the collection with the University of Chicago's science collection in a new building, which opened on September 10, 1984.
[ Because the library was incorporated under the 1891 special law, court approval was required for the merger.][ A condition of the merger was that the combined library would also remain free to the public. The merger, with a combined collection of 900,000 volumes, was among the largest in American library history.][
Following World War II, the John Crerar Library became one of the first to offer a fee-based research service which was targeted to industry and government users. In 1952, it became one of the first libraries in the nation to install a Teletype machine.][ The library now offers computer-based searches of a wide variety of scientific and medical data bases. Since the 1950s,][ the library offers corporate memberships to both for-profit and non-profit organizations that now includes borrowing privileges and access to the University of Chicago Libraries as well as to Crerar.][ Also, from 1968 to 1979, the National Library of Medicine funded the library to serve as its Midwest Regional Medical Library.][
]
Current library
The current four-story structure opened in 1984 was designed by Stubbins Associates of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and has 160,836 gross square feet of floor space, with dimensions east-west by north-south, costing $22 million to build. The building has capacity for 1.3 million volumes with 770,000 volumes on of conventional shelving and 530,000 volumes on of movable compact shelving.[
The merger set aside $300,000 to form a separate John Crerar Foundation.][ The Foundation now also sponsors the ''John Crerar Foundation Science Writing Prize for College students''.]
The official motto of the John Crerar Library is engraved on its current building: ''Non est mortuus qui scientiam vivificavit'' (translation: "He has not died who has given life to knowledge")[
The Crerar collection includes 27,000 rare books including works by Copernicus, Leonardo da Vinci, Descartes, Franklin, and Newton.][
]
References
External links
*
*
John Crerar Library Photographs
a
the Newberry Library
Guide to the University of Chicago Library. John Crerar Library. Records 1977-2009
at th
University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center
{{Authority control
Libraries in Chicago
University and college academic libraries in the United States
University of Chicago Library
Embedded educational institutions
Library buildings completed in 1984