| The Cornell Public Library "Foster Sisters" In its early years, the Cornell Library downtown had close ties to the University. For the first twenty years, the Board of Trustees held its meetings in the boardroom of the First National Bank, located in the Library, and Andrew Dickson White was elected as the university’s first president there on November 21, 1866.
And, as Thomas Frederick (“Teefy”) Crane, Professor of Romance Language and Literature and acting president of Cornell (1900-1901) later reminisced:
Here Ezra Cornell had a tiny office next to the post office.… In this office the first meeting of the faculty of Cornell University was held in October, 1868 . . . . It was from this office [Boardman and Finch] that I saw Cornell University gradually come into being.
Lectures and meetings were held in library facilities. The announcement and course catalog, the Cornell Register noted: “Large numbers of persons of both sexes, not formally connected with the University, have attended many of the courses of lectures, particularly those of the President and of Professor Goldwin Smith” and the other non-resident faculty. Students took their entrance examinations in the Library’s DeWitt Guards’ Drill Hall, and Commencement exercises were held in the Lecture Hall until 1883, when the Old Armory was completed on campus.
When Ezra Cornell died in 1874, his coffin was brought to the Library and more than 4,000 people filed past the bier.
The Cornell Register described the Library:
Members of the University are also entitled to the use of the Cornell Library, founded in the village of Ithaca, by Mr. Cornell in 1864, at an expense of one hundred thousand dollars. It is a library of circulation, containing a large and constantly growing collection of works in history, voyages, travels, and general literature. Its reading-room possesses a good selection of political and literary journals, domestic and foreign. << Prev | Next >> |  +
“Cornell Library Ledger,” 1865-1870
The Cornell Library’s ledger for the first few years of Cornell University’s existence demonstrates the number of events held not on campus but at the Cornell Library in downtown Ithaca. 
 +
1869 Commencement
Cornell University's first commencement was held at the Cornell Library on July 1, 1869.
 +
1872 Commencement
Many early Cornell University ceremonies took place at the Cornell Library.
 +
1872 Junior Exhibition
Since Cornell University consisted of very few buildings in the early years, most of the University events requiring a substantial amount of space were held at the Cornell Library.
 +
Tickets to Cornell University events at the Cornell Library
Many lectures, including those given by popular professors such as Goldwin Smith and Bayard Taylor, were held in downtown Ithaca at the Cornell Library.
 +
Tickets to Cornell University events at the Cornell Library
Tickets to lecture series and one to the first Commencement (see program, above), all held at the Cornell Library in downtown Ithaca.
|
Top