RG - 4.1: The Office of the Provost: The Papers of Musselman Library

43 boxes, 37 cubic feet
Processed by: Jason Kowell
June 2005

In April 1834 the Gettysburg College Board of Trustees agreed to spend $500 to purchase a library. This first library was housed in the home of the College's first librarian who lived on the third floor of Pennsylvania Hall. In 1889 the library moved into the first floor of the newly completed Glatfelter Hall. A move of the library to the third floor of Glatfelter occurred in 1922 when two literary societies disbanded and donated 15,000 volumes to the library.

Under President Hanson, a separate library building - with the capacity to house 100,000 volumes and hold 300 people - was constructed and opened on November 18, 1929. During the 125th anniversary year of Gettysburg College, the library was rededicated on April 14, 1957 and officially renamed The Samuel Simon Schmucker Memorial Library. John H. Knickerbocker served as head librarian from 1929-1959 and was known for his efforts to promote library use not only on campus, but also within the community.

Upon Knickerbocker's retirement, Lillian Smoke was appointed librarian and served in this capacity until 1974. During her tenure Mrs. Smoke worked to improve and expand the collection and oversaw a $493,499 addition to Schmucker library. The expanded building now had double the capacity of the original building with room for 200,000 volumes and 600 library patrons. A rededication ceremony took place on June 1, 1962.

During her final years as head librarian, Lillian Smoke was instrumental in the beginning the planning process for a new building. A committee formed in 1971 began discussions on the building that was eventually to become known as the Musselman Library Learning / Resource Center. Upon Mrs. Smoke's retirement in 1974, James Richards became her successor and saw the completion of the new building. Musselman Library, at a cost of $ 4,959,000, again doubled the library's capacity to 420,000 volumes and 800 study spaces. The name of the building was chosen to honor a major gift from the Emma G. Musselman Foundation.

Over the years the new building has seen many changes. After Richards' retirement in 1983, Willis Hubbard was hired as head librarian and served in this capacity until the mid-1990s when computing and the library merged forces under the title of Information Resources. To accommodate Computing's needs, significant remodeling and construction was done to the interior of the building. By the end of 1997 these two organizations, although still largely housed in the same building were place under separate administration. Robin Wagner was chosen as director of the library in 1998.

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Scope and Content

The Papers of Musselman Library record group comprises of approximately 37 cubic feet in 43 boxes. The majority of the papers are from the period of Musselman Library's construction in the early 1980's until present day. There are also a significant number of papers predating Musselman Library as early as 1834.

The record group is divided into six series:

I. Building Information
II. Departmental Papers
III. Gifts & Donations
IV. Personal Papers
V. Documentation and Articles
VI. Photographs

Due to the size and diversity of the record group, Series I, III, and V have each been divided into three subseries:

•  

  A. Construction
  B. Maintenance
  C. Renovation & Remodeling

  A. Interdepartmental Papers
  B. Library Departments
  C. Information Resources (IR) Division

  A. Laws, Policies, Procedures, and Manuals
  B. Articles and Publications

Series I:

Series II:

Series V:

Series III and IV are arranged alphabetically by last name/category while Series I, II, and V are arranged chronologically within their subseries or sub-subseries. Certain papers are filed outside of their expected location due to their large size (such as blueprints or photo albums).

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Series Description

Series I (Building Information): Includes information regarding the library buildings (both Schmucker Memorial Hall and Musselman Library). Papers include information and notes on planning, funding, consultations, correspondence, order forms & agreements, as well as blueprints.

• Subseries A (Construction): Information on the planning and construction of both Schmucker and Musselman, as well as equipment orders, contracts, and consultations.
  

  Sub-subseries: Schmucker, Musselman

• Subseries B (Maintenance): Correspondence and meeting notes regarding problems and the maintenance of the buildings.
  

  Sub-subseries: Schmucker, Musselman

• Subseries C (Renovation & Remodeling): Correspondence, contracts, plans, and meeting notes regarding various construction projects.
  

  Sub-subseries: Schmucker, Musselman

   

Series II (Departmental Papers): Includes records of library meetings, student and regular employees, budgets & financial information, organizations, events, etc. Departments are divided into two categories - Information Resources and the Library.

• Subseries A (Interdepartmental Papers): Includes all records that concern multiple departments or the library as a whole, including organizations, budgets, holdings, library meets, gift records, information about the flood of 1996, etc.
  

  Sub-subseries:
  1. Organizations
  2. Committees
  3. Meetings
  4. Projects & Events
  5. Annual Reports
  6. Breviaria
  7. Library Orientation
  8. Budgets
  9. Finance
  10. Grants & Funding
  11. Student Workers
  12. Flood
  13. Evaluations
  14. Holdings
  15. Misc. Documents

• Subseries B (Library Departments): Divided into eleven sub-subseries for each department within the library (excluding IR).
  

  Sub-subseries:
  1. Friends
  2. Technical Services
  3. AV/IMS
  4. Shelves/Stacks
  5. Circulation
  6. Reference/Instruction
  7. IDS/ILL
  8. Reserves
  9. Academic Departments/Faculty
  10. Administration
  11. Special Collections/Achieves
  12. Accession

• Subseries C (IR Division): The papers pertaining to the IR/computing side of the library before the separation of computing and the library in 1997. Includes papers on various IR projects as well as hardware and software for the campus network.
  

  Sub-subseries:
  1. IR Office Documents
  2. Campus Computers/Network/Hardware/Software

   

Series III (Gifts & Donations): Records of the gifts, donations, and other contributions the library has received. The series includes two boxes of gift record cards and two boxes of correspondences and signed forms.

Series IV (Personal Correspondence): Includes the correspondence, memos, notes, and files of former and current employees of both the library and IR. Files are arranged alphabetically by person's name rather than chronologically.

Series V (Documentation and Articles): Published documents and unpublished photographs of the library and IR. Includes published articles by library staff, articles and reports about the library from non-staff and general library and management information.

• Subseries A (Laws, Policies, Procedures, and Manuals): Documented procedures (written by the library, the college, and/or government regulators), in the form of flyers/posters/handouts, emails/letters, or bound documents.
  
• Subseries B (Articles and Publications): Articles, reports, and evaluations of the college and library. Divided into three sub-subseries based on the author:
  

  Sub-subseries:
  1. Library information and articles published by library staff
  2. Articles written by non-library staff (includes college students)
  3. General articles related to libraries and management

Series VI (Photographs): Photographs of various events, people, and buildings involving library staff and activities. Photos are placed in beige photo album boxes while negatives and duplicates are stored in a standard box.

• Subseries A (Photographs): Printed photographs of exhibits, activities, events, as well as construction and renovation of the campus and library.
  
• Subseries B (Miscellaneous): Includes negatives of most photographs from subseries A as well as photo CDs and duplicate photos.

Folder Contents

Due to the number of documents, seperate content lists have been created for each series. For more information on what type of files each series go to the Series Description on this page.

1. Building Information (Boxes 1-3)
2. Departmental Papers (Boxes 4-30)
3. Gifts & Donations (Boxes 31-34)
4. Personal Papers (Box 35)
5. Documentation & Articles (Boxes 36-38)
6. Photographs (Boxes 39-43)