Photo Record
Images
Metadata
Title |
Washington and Lee University - McCormick Library |
Description |
Washington and Lee University is a private liberal arts college located in Lexington, Virginia. The university was descended from Augusta Academy, which was established in 1749. In 1776 it was renamed Liberty Hall and moved to Lexington in 1780 when it was chartered as Liberty Hall Academy and built its first facility near town in 1782. In 1796 George Washington endowed the Academy with its largest gift ever, $20,000 in stock. In appreciation the trustees renamed the school Washington College. Robert E. Lee was its president after the Civil War until his death in 1870, after which the school was renamed Washington and Lee University. The University is divided into three schools: The College where all undergraduate students begin their studies; the Williams School of Commerce, Economics and Politics; and the School of Law. The school was all male until 1972 when women were admitted into the school of law. It wasn't until 1985 when female undergraduates were admitted, mainly because of the many female colleges offered in the surrounding area. For the first three-quarters of the 20th century, the W&L library was located in the current Commerce School, then called the Cyrus Hall McCormick Library. In the 1960s it became clear that library resources were outgrowing the building, and that the university had to plan for a new library building. "The new undergraduate library will be --as the library at a good college must be-- the hub of the campus, both academically and physically." (Alumni Magazine 51, no. 6 (1976): 7). The Richmond architectural firm Marcellus , Cox & Wright designed a 130,000 square foot building, four times the size of McCormick Library. One day in January 1979, the library, under the direction of then University Librarian Maurice Leach, organized the "Great Move", during which volunteers walked over the entire book collection to the new facility, carrying them in shopping bags donated by the Leggett department store in town. For the first 15 years, the building was simply called the University Library. On May 28, 1994, the University Library was named in memory of James Graham Leyburn (1902-1993). |
Object ID |
1998.24.170 |
Object Name |
Print, Photographic |
Subjects |
Colleges Universities & colleges University Building Columns Men Steps Ivy Library Windows Brickwork Benches Railings Cars Automobiles |
Search Terms |
Washington & Lee University Lexington, Virginia |
People |
Lee, Robert E. (Robert Edward) Washington, George |
Collection |
Roanoke Chamber of Commerce Photograph Collection |
Imagefile |
013\199824170.JPG |
Number of images |
1 |