Happy Birthday to us!

The Ira J. Taylor Library turns 50 this year! Until 1955, the Library was housed in Iliff Hall, spread between Bartlett Lounge and the gymnasium (yes, there was a gymnasium at Iliff!). Conditions were, to say the least, inconvenient, and, by the 1950s, this shared space was no longer adequate for the growing library collection. Mr. Ira J. Taylor, Miss Louise Iliff, and Mr. Gerald Schlessman, along with many other benefactors, helped to make a new freestanding library building a reality. The Ira J. Taylor library, designed to be as comfortable as a "modern supermarket," opened in 1956. Though the Library has undergone further expansion since that time (including the 1998 addition of the Bacon Education Center), the core of the building remains much the same today as it was when it opened.

In 1955 Iliff president Harold Ford Carr appealed to the friends of Iliff to support this building project by making monetary donations designated for tables, chairs, stacks, and other library furnishings. It is perhaps a powerful sign of our stewardship of these gifts that many of these furnishings are still in use today! Yet, after fifty years, many such items now need replacement; we also need your support to help equip the library for another 50 years. Your donation will help us purchase new furnishings, provide comfortable study spaces, and support advanced technology.

We invite you to make a gift to support our next fifty years! For more information, contact Debbie Creamer or visit Development pages.

View pictures of how the Library has changed over the past 50 years!