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Real People in Nancy Drew Games: Henry Suzzallo

If we ignore the uncomfortable question Nancy asks, who is Henry Suzzallo?

Dr. Henry Suzzallo (1875-1933) was a professor of education at Stanford and Columbia before becoming president of the University of Washington in 1915. During World War I, he served as an advisor to the State Labor Board. He supported and helped enact the eight-hour workday for those in the logging industry. This angered a powerful lumberman that became governor of Washington in 1926, who was able to force Suzzallo out of his position by filling the University Board of Regents with his cronies. Students threatened to strike, but were urged not to by Suzzallo. Suzzallo remained in Seattle and worked with the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching until his death in 1933. The main library at the University of Washington, whose first phase of construction was completed in 1926, was named in his honor.

Suzzallo Library is built in what was called a Collegiate Gothic style, living up to Henry Suzzallo’s belief that universities ought to be “cathedrals of learning.” The 1926 phase was originally intended to be one wing of a triangular-shaped building, but by time the other phases continued after the Depression and World War II, the University’s needs and architecture styles had changed. The most famous feature of Suzzallo Library is its Reading Room, located on the second floor behind the towering stained glass windows.

Presumably, Her Interactive chose this name for a one-off name drop because some of their employees attended the University of Washington and sat in this library as students. Henry Suzzallo was still alive and active in 1930 (though not in Titusville), the year in which Secret of the Old Clock is meant to take place.

P.s. Happy Labor Day! It is through the efforts of people like Henry Suzzallo that American workers have the labor protections we do!