Introduction
In 1968, Joseph Katz, then a member of the English faculty at Kent State University, delivered an address entitled “Rare Books and Very Special Collections” to the Librarians Section of the Ohio College Association. He said, in part:
“…a good rare book (library) will be a good museum, but it has the potential for being much more than just a storehouse for showpieces. It will be a place from which flows the scholarship that enriches knowledge and understanding as it enhances the reputation of the institution that has encouraged it; and it will be an extension of the classroom, a place in which students can be shown how to do things with what they have learned there. A good rare book (library),” Katz continued, “will develop and make available collections that support the learning and teaching that are (collectively) the only justification of a university.”[1]
For more than 60 years, Indiana University’s Lilly Library has been just such a place. Today, as we dedicate its splendid renovation, we celebrate the library not only for its magnificent collections that rival those of any rare books library in the nation—but also as a center of scholarship that has enhanced the university’s reputation and supported, in countless ways, Indiana University’s teaching, learning, and research missions.
Celebrating the Lilly Library
Among the library’s most famous treasures are the first printed edition of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales; many beautifully illuminated medieval books of hours; George Washington's letter accepting the presidency; and the fascinating personal archives of such cultural luminaries as Orson Welles, Sylvia Plath, and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. These—and the library’s many other treasures—are not relics locked away to gather dust on an unseen shelf. They are living objects, that—in their use—span the great distance of time between their creation and the present.
The library is a testament to the vision and generosity of J.K. Lilly Jr., who between the late 1940s and the mid-1960s, served as president and chair of the board of Eli Lilly and Company. Between 1954 and 1957, as I noted, he donated his collection of rare books and manuscripts—widely considered to be one of the finest private libraries in the world—to Indiana University. Then-IU president Herman B Wells recognized the collection’s profound importance and determined that a freestanding library was required to not only care for the materials, but also to establish and proclaim IU’s position as caretaker and curator of the state’s most valuable literary legacy. With J.K. Lilly’s gift forming the core of its collection, the Lilly Library opened in 1960, and it was, of course, named in honor of the Lilly family.
An extensive renovation for the library's 60th anniversary
At a celebration of the Lilly Library’s 50th anniversary in 2010, I said that it was essential that its treasures remain directly accessible to the whole university community and beyond and never become a remote bank vault of old books. But as the library approached its 60th anniversary, it became clear that in order for the library to continue to thrive, it was in need of a major renovation.
With the enormously generous support of the Lilly Endowment for this renovation, the library will greatly improve its ability to provide wide access to the library's rare books, manuscripts, and objects to broader audiences.
In addition to the updates and improvements I mentioned earlier, the renovation of the library has included a thorough refurbishment of the building’s extensive woodwork, including in the grand entry hall, restoring it to its original glorious beauty. By installing more modern, smaller mechanical systems, substantial space was captured to create a new classroom and lecture hall on the lower level. A much-needed elevator has also been installed to allow access to all public floors.
And the reading room, the heart of the Lilly Library, has been renovated and made more beautiful through the addition of a magnificent new cycle of murals that reflect the library's rich resources in world literature, history, the sciences, and the arts, and honor the legacy of J. K. Lilly, Jr. Professor Ralph Gilbert of Georgia State University, who is with us today, and from whom we will hear in a few moments, was selected to create the murals from a pool of highly qualified artists from Indiana and around the globe who submitted expressions of interest.
When it was dedicated in 1960, the main entrance of the Lilly Library featured elegant and imposing decorative bronze doors. Of course, bronze doors are a feature of some of the greatest and most beautiful buildings in the world. Renaissance sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti’s gilded bronze doors known as the “Gates of Paradise” in the Baptistry of San Giovanni in Florence, Italy, for example, have been widely regarded as masterpieces since their creation in the 15th century.
Unfortunately, the original bronze doors of the Lilly Library were removed at some point and their location remains unknown. I am very pleased to note that, as part of this renovation, the design team designed new bronze doors, based in part on a design created in 2004 by former University Architect Bob Meadows and his colleagues, a design that reflects the decorative façade of the front of the library itself. Those new bronze doors have been fabricated and installed—and the library once again has a stunningly beautiful entrance that is worthy of one of the nation’s finest special collections libraries.
Special thanks
There are many people to whom I want to extend thanks today.
First, to the Lilly Endowment, through Clay Robbins, who is with us today. All of us at Indiana University remain deeply grateful for the endowment’s wide-ranging and generous philanthropic support for the university over many decades—support that continues to have a transformative impact on the university’s mission.
I also extend our most grateful thanks to the members of the Lilly family. It is fair to say that no other family in the 200-year history of Indiana University has made a greater difference or shaped this institution more than the Lilly family. We are deeply grateful for all that you and your family have done for Indiana University.
I also want to thank Provost Lauren Robel; Carolyn Walters, Ruth Lilly Dean of University Libraries; and Joel Silver, director of the Lilly Library for their leadership that helped us reach this day. And I want to thank the highly skilled librarians who catalog, clean, analyze, display, and preserve the library’s materials—and who worked tirelessly to carefully pack and move the library’s collections into storage as part of the renovation process.
I also want to commend Vice President for Capital Planning and Facilities, Tom Morrison; Associate Vice President for Capital Planning Adam Thies; Architect Hal Kovert and his colleagues at Kovert Hawkins Architects; and the many design and construction professionals who have contributed to this superb renovation.
And I want to commend Professor Ralph Gilbert for his superb work on the new mural cycle, which you will be able to view following this ceremony. I also want to thank the members of the review committee:
- Committee chair, David Brenneman, the Wilma E. Kelley Director of IU’s Eskenazi Museum of Art,
- Peg Faimon, founding dean of the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design,
- Greg Hull, interim dean of the Herron School of Art + Design in Indianapolis,
- University Libraries Dean Carolyn Walters,
- Associate Dean of the IU Libraries Diane Dallis-Comentale,
and
- Lilly Library director Joel Silver
who reviewed the many expressions of interest from talented artists around the world and recommended Professor Gilbert and six other finalists.
Conclusion
At the dedication of the Lilly Library in 1960, keynote speaker Frederick Adams, then-director of the Pierpont Morgan Library, one of the finest libraries in North America, said that “[a] great library never stops growing” but that growth is not just expansion. It includes maturation, integration, and direction.[2]
As today’s celebration makes abundantly clear, the Lilly Library has continued to grow and mature over the last 61 years. The superb renovation we dedicate today will ensure that it will continue to serve and inspire students, faculty, visiting scholars, and the broader public for many years to come.
Source notes
[1] Joseph Katz, Rare Books and Very Special Collections, (Kent State University Libraries, 1969), 6.
[2] Frederick Adams, as quoted in “Growth Is Essential to a Great Library,” Indiana Daily Student: Oct. 4, 1960, 4.