Stack Story!
“Alumni Hall, old library” 1899 Knox College Harold E. Way 10.4 x 7.6 cm
Did you know that Alumni Hall is where you could find some of Knox’s books in 1899? With Henry M. Seymour library being such a staple on our campus it is hard to imagine the campus before the building was built in 1928. Before our beautiful library was constructed, there wasn’t any one specific location on campus for the books that Knox had. Alumni Hall was just one of the various places the college’s small book collection was located. “Alumni Hall, old library” was originally taken in 1899, and you can see how different our books were stored on campus then. Bookshelves are scattered around the room in every place that they would fit, and the collection was small compared to our library now. This photo also highlights some art that the college had adorning the library, with the biggest being a replica of the famous statue Winged Victory. Our collection of art has grown since then, and you can now find various paintings throughout Henry M. Seymour Library.
The photo comes from the Harold Way Photograph Collection (Knox College), which has thousands of photographs that showcase how life was at Knox between 1890-1940s. Harold E. Way was a Knox College graduate and ended up teaching Physics at the college. You can check out more photos from the collection in the link below, and see how different Knox was in the earlier days of the college. Also take a look at this article by Jeffery A. Douglas (the current library director) that gives the history of Knox’s libraries!
-Jasmine Lamb 2023
References
https://collections.carli.illinois.edu/digital/collection/knx_harold
http://knoxlibrary.knox.edu/archives/localhistory/seymourhistory/history1.html
