Buffalo & Erie County Public Library history

1824* Samuel M. Worcester, Professor of Latin and Greek, Rhetoric and Oratory, and English Literature, and Librarian (1824-27).

1836* Athenian Society prints its first literary society Library catalog.

1844* Sears Fund of Literature and Benevolence established.

1851* By vote of the faculty, the College establishes the Memorabilia Collection to collect and preserve all documents pertaining to the history of the College.

1853* New building opens, houses Library; later named Morgan Hall.

1855* Library holdings are approximately 12,000 volumes.* Second printed Library catalog published.* Second Athenian Society Library catalog also published.

1867* Discussed merger of the Athenian and Alexandrian literary societies' libraries with College library.

1874* Melvil Dewey (Class of 1874) Assistant Librarian (1874-76), starts subject catalog on cards.

It is a gift from Arthur N. Milliken (1880).

Construction began in 1904 with a $10,000 grant from the Andrew Carnegie Foundation plus money raised through local gifts and a tax levy.

The new building was dedicated on September 19, 1906, and the original Carnegie portion of the building is still in use.

Incorporated in 1919, the Jones Library began its life in an Amherst hotel and ran weekly advertisements bombarding residents with reasons to visit their library regularly.

1933* George Daniel Olds Memorial Library (Mathematics) established in Walker Hall.

1938* Addition built on Converse Memorial Library.* The first rare book room established in the Converse addition. ("Treasures" previously kept in office vault).

1964* Charles T. Laugher, Assistant Library Director (1964-65).

1968* Friends of the Amherst College Library founded.* Science Library opens in the new Merrill Science Center.* Vincent Morgan Music Library opens in the new Music building.

1971* Audio-Visual Department established in Frost Library.

Click here to view slides from 1974 showing the library and the city of Amherst before the addition.

In 1976, an addition was built and a new side entrance was added.

1979* Annual professional evaluation system begins.

1981* AACR2 is adopted for cataloging by the Library.* Dispersal of the HILC collection is completed among the member Five College libraries.* Amherst joins the SUNY/OCLC Library Network (now NYLINK).

1985* Frost Library, Level C is finished for book storage, and compact shelving is installed.

1991* Childs Bertram Tseckares Inc (CBT), architects, complete preliminary plans for expansion of the Frost Library.

1995* The Robert Frost Library is renovated.

2004* The Library celebrates the growth of its collection to more than a million volumes.

2008* Planning begins to transfer Music monographs from the Music Library to the Level 2 of Frost to make room for additional scores and compact discs in the Music Building.* The United States economic crisis forces the College to put a freeze on all hiring decisions for one year.

2011* Summer interior renovations begin.

In 2014, the original Carnegie portion of the library was renovated.