Origins of the Duke University Library

Duke University's modern library traces its roots to the libraries maintained by the campus literary societies. The Columbian Society, founded in 1846, and the Hesperian Society, founded in 1851, competed both for members and in acquiring books for their collections. According to the Trinity College Catalogue, by 1860 each society held 2,200 volumes, while the school itself held only 650. By 1876 the four campus library collections, Columbian, Hesperian, Theological, and College, totaled more than 10,000 volumes. In 1887 new Trinity College president John Franklin Crowell persuaded the two campus literacy societies to merge their collections with that of the college, creating the Trinity College Library. 

The Trinity College Library

After Trinity moved to Durham in 1892, the library occupied a large single room in the Washington Duke Building, the main building of the campus. One student from each of the two literary societies served as librarians.  In 1900, James B. Duke donated funds for a library building. Ground was broken in 1901, and the building was completed in December 1902. The formal opening took place the following February. During construction, Duke donated an additional $10,000 for the purchase of books.

Library Expansion

After the creation of the Duke Endowment in December 1924, a new building was constructed, seventy-five yards northwest from the old library, to serve as the institution's library during the transformation of Trinity College into Duke University. After the new building was completed in 1927, over 100,000 books were moved, a feat that was accomplished by arranging a competition among fraternities to see which could move the most books from the old library to the new one.

Upon the opening of West Campus in 1930, the university's books were moved from the library on East campus to the new General Library as well as to the newly established libraries for Law, Divinity, Biology, Forestry, Medicine, and Chemistry. The East Campus library became the Woman's College Library. A new collection of 4,000 books had been purchased specifically for the Woman's College; although many women students complained that the collection was inadequate and traveled to West Campus to use the General Library. When the Woman's college merged with Trinity College in 1972, the library became the East campus Library. In 1990 it was renamed Lilly Library in recognition of a generous gift from Miss Ruth Lilly.

In 1949, the General Library on West Campus doubled its size through a contribution of Mrs. Mary Duke Biddle, daughter of Benjamin Newton Duke. The expansion included a new stack area, entry and the Treasure Room, now known as the Rare Book Room. Even with this expansion, the library quickly grew past its capacity due to its expanding acquisitions program.