Lights, Tubes, Space: Holland Library Marks 75th Year with Panel, Exhibit

WSU Libraries celebrate Holland Library’s diamond anniversary with a panel and an exhibit around the theme “Lights, Tubes, Space: Holland Library Turns 75.”

The panel from 2-3 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 1, in the Holland original circulation area features Trevor Bond, WSU Libraries dean; Phil Gruen, professor, WSU School of Design and Construction; and Mark O’English, university archivist.

From fluorescent lights to pneumatic tubes, Holland Library opened in 1950 as one of the first modular libraries on a college campus. The panelists will reflect on President Ernest O. Holland’s unrealized traditional vision for Washington State College, the postwar push for spatial efficiency, and the transition to a modernist campus.

After the talk, WSU Libraries’ conservator Linnea Rash will set up the Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections (MASC) letter press for audience members to print a keepsake. In addition, virtual-reality headsets will be available for the curious to take a virtual tour of Holland Library by clicking on icons to see photographs and other historical information.

The exhibit, in the Terrell Library Atrium on the first floor, details how Holland was constructed, the transfer of books from the old library in Bryan Hall to their new home, and Holland over the years. Panels capture images of the installation of the iconic sculpture, “The Reader,” designed by Seattle sculptor Dudley Pratt and carved in Bedford, Indiana; the stunning lobby featuring mid-century modern design that incorporated rare marble from a quarry in Minnesota; and the recording studio in Holland’s present-day Dimensions Lab.

MASC also has fascinating materials related to Holland Library, including audio interviews conducted by Lawrence Golicz in 1967 while working on his WSU master’s in history thesis, or the plaster casts from 1949 of the eight medallions embedded in the floor of the library’s circulation area, created by sculptor John William Elliott.