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Front
Entrance Inscription
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In 1929, Congress appropriated
over one million dollars for the construction of a new
library at Howard University. The cornerstone was laid
on June 10, 1937, and the building opened for service
on January 3, 1939. The building is named The
Founders Library
in honor of the 17 men who founded the institution and
to whom the charter for Howard University was issued.
Founders, as the library is often called, is located on
the site of the historic Main Building in which the general
library collection was housed from the late 1800s until
the first library building was erected by Andrew Carnegie.
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Front
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Secretary of Interior Harold L. Ickes presents
key to Dr. Jesse Moorland
with president Mordecai W. Johnson (center)
at opening ceremony, 1939
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Founders received national
attention when it was completed. Newspaper reporters compared
it to "Aladdin's Palace" and a "fairyland."
Much was said about the $1,000 gold spire and the giant
clock with $10,000 in chimes that stroked every half hour.
But as Secretary of the Interior, Harold Ickes, said on
the occasion of the Library's dedication in 1939, "A
library is more than a building, it is more than the volumes
that rest upon its shelves... Let us hope that the library,
by ever remaining an inexhaustible well of human wisdon
and experience, shall help one of the genuinely creative
sectors of our population to achieve the more abundant
life." |
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Albert
I. Cassell, FAIA, is the architect of The Founders
Library and several major buildings on the Howard University
main campus. He lived for 74 years during a period of
American history when professional opportunities in architectural
design and construction were
severely limited for African Americans. Nevertheless,
with native talent, unique drive, and incurable optimism,
he was able to surmount the obstacles of poverty and rigid
racial prejudice. |
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