Norton Geology/Carnegie Library

That whereas it has been found necessary, in order to conform to the wishes and conditions of Mr. Carnegie, in making the donation of forty thousand ($40,000) dollars, for the erection of a library building, to be erected on the campus of [Cornell College], to be used as a library building for the people of Mount Vernon…” - Resolution adopted by the Council of the Incorporated town of Mount Vernon, IA. April 16, 1903.

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In March of 1903, two Cornell College Trustees, acting under the direction of President William Fletcher King, approached philanthropist Andrew Carnegie and convinced him to finance the construction of a library building for the growing college.^{^[1]} The library at the time, which was located in a corner of Old Sem, had become too small to house the college’s book collection, which stood at approximately 25,000 volumes, mostly filled with reference materials and some current newspapers and magazines.^{^[2]} The August 1904 Cornell College Bulletin noted the rapidly expanding collection of books, and an increase in demand for the use of the library made it a high priority to have the new library building erected sooner rather than later.^{^[3]}

On September 13, 1905, the new library building was dedicated and opened for the college and the residents of Mount Vernon.^{^[4]} Andrew Carnegie donated $50,000 (an increase from his earlier offer) for the construction of the building on the condition that it would be a joint town/college library, as he felt college-only libraries excluded the working public.^{^[5]} The placement of the building was carefully selected to ensure the library would be accessible to both town and college residents.^{^[6]}

The completed building stood two stories tall and was a rectangular 86 x 36 feet. There were several reading and resource rooms on all floors, large windows, and a stack room (hidden from view) where 70,000 volumes could be stored.^{^[7]} A wide foyer welcomed visitors to the library, where they could opt for periodicals and reference materials on the eastern side of the building (complete with a reading room), or move west to a smaller room with materials for children.^{^[8]} Upstairs was a similar layout, but contained books primarily for student and faculty use.^{^[9]} Architecturally, the building features many elements characteristic of Carnegie’s philanthropic libraries such as steel-reinforced concrete and a brick facade.^{^[10]} The stairway leading up into the main entryway was another example of typical architecture for a Carnegie building, as well as the traditional arch over the doorway.

In 1957, the old Carnegie Library was vacated in favor of the newly built Russell D. Cole Library, and remodeled to host the chemistry department, as it had outgrown the space it had previously shared in Law Hall.^{^[11]} But in 1976, the chemistry department moved out and into the newly constructed West Science.^{^[12]} The building stood mostly unused for almost a year until plans were hatched in late 1977 to renovate the old Carnegie Library to house the geology department as well as a museum of geology.^{^[13]}

Today, the building formerly known as the Carnegie Library and the Chemistry Building is called Norton Geology Building, after William Harmon Norton, the first geology professor at Cornell who contributed his energy, time, and impressive collection of fossils to the college.^{^[14]} Norton’s contributions were especially notable in that he was mostly self-taught, but still helped to rewrite some of the prevailing theories on Iowa geology, in addition to starting one of the first full geology programs in the Midwest.^{^[15]}

The building opened with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on October 18, 1980 (Alumni Weekend), and was officially dedicated June 13, 1981.^{^[16]} Geology classes are taught next to the Anderson Geology Museum, also housed in Norton Geology, where the public is free to enter, reminiscent of its era as the public library.^{^[17]}

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Was Frederick Law Olmsted involved with Norton Geology/Carnegie Library’s construction?

Several letters from the Cornell archives suggest that the renowned landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted and his brother John Olmsted were consulted for the construction of the building. In a letter written to President King dated June 26, 1903, the Olmsted Brothers offer suggestions on the future library’s location and design, which for the most part seem to have been followed. There are also several letters suggesting that the Olmsted’s corresponded with Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge (the principal architects of the library) during the building's construction. Recently, Jennifer Rouse, the consulting librarian for arts and humanities and archivist at Cole Library, discovered a photo album from the Olmsted Archives with photos taken of Cornell’s campus in June of 1903, implying that Olmsted may have, in fact, visited the campus at some point during the pre-building period. Olmsted is perhaps most famous for designing Central Park in New York City, but is also credited with many other noteworthy buildings and public spaces.

Move to Russell Cole Library

The growth in size of the Cornell student body during the first half of the twentieth century soon began to undermine the library’s usefulness. The lack of space for students to study was one of the Carnegie library’s most critical problems for it had a seating capacity of only 125 people, while by 1945 there were 200 students in the freshman class alone. Librarian Dorothy Higbie wrote in a letter to President Russell Cole that during the fall semester it would get so crowded that many students simply had to return to their dorms to study.^{^[21]} In the 1930s, there was such an overcrowded environment in the library that an auxiliary library was opened in Law Hall for Freshman English and social studies, and after the construction of Armstrong Hall, all of the books pertaining to art, music, and other fine arts were moved there.^{^[22]}

With several generous donations in the early 1950s, it was decided to construct a new building to house the library (as well as a student social center), instead of creating an addition to the Carnegie Library. The new building moved closer to the center of campus, concurrent with campus advancement to the west.^{^[23]} On a sunny Thursday in 1957, an all-school holiday was declared and faculty, staff, and students spent the day moving all of the books and periodicals from the Carnegie Library to the newly finished Russell D. Cole Library.^{^[24]} Certain college members were given specific books to carry in honor of their position: President Russell Cole was given the Bible, and Dean Howard W. Troyer a history of the college, while representatives of the various departments were given books from their fields to carry to the new library.^{^[25]}

During the dedication of the new library, it was made clear that the new building was to remain open to all, townspeople as well as college members.

A library shared by a college and a town?

The Cornell College library is unique in that it is also the Mount Vernon public library, and may be, perhaps, the only college library to carry this dual designation. Although most date this uncommon relationship to the agreement with the original Carnegie Library, there are letters from B.E. Richardson, a librarian of Cornell in the 1860s, that suggest otherwise. Richardson writes, “Cornell College Library has long had a policy of serving anyone who wants to read: townsfolk, school children, farm families…”^{^[26]} There was a collection that Richardson noted was used almost exclusively by non-students – the Mary Parsons Browsing Room collection – which housed fiction and nonfiction, topical books, picture books, cartoons, and the like.^{^[27]}

Anderson Geology Museum

The Anderson Geology Museum takes its name from Rufus and Elizabeth Anderson, of Mount Pleasant, Texas. Rufus Anderson was a Cornell alumnus from the class of 1941, who had studied geology under William Harmon Norton.^{^[18]} The Andersons gifted $100,000 to the college for the construction of the museum from the sale of their $300,000 ranch (the remaining $200,000 was to be put in a trust and used to finance the upkeep of the building and the museum).^{^[19]} Much of the museum's collection was drawn from items gathered years earlier by Professor Norton, and were displayed in a manner that mimicked the Field Museum.^{^[20]}

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Brad Kane '18 and Hannah Robertson '18, “Norton Geology/Carnegie Library,” Mount Vernon History Tours, accessed April 19, 2024, https://mtvernonhistorytours.com/items/show/23.

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