The Library at Chapman University: A Historical Look

The Thurmond Clarke Memorial Library: 1967 - 2003

A New Building

In 1965, ground was broken for the new Chapman College Library. The building was the first academic building constructed on the Orange campus, and the first built under the Chapman College Master Plan.
Haul-It-Day

Once the new library building was completed, the entire Chapman community came together to move the books and other materials from their previous home in Memorial Hall to the new library. Classes were cancelled to allow faculty and students alike to load up materials in boxes loaned by the Golden West Citrus Association, move them out of Memorial Hall on a conveyor belt, across campus on a 1.25 mile journey, and then into their new home on another conveyor belt.
The day was celebrated by all as emblematic of the unity of the Chapman campus. Cookies and refreshments were provided, and a dance was held for students that evening in the old library.

Dedication and Naming

The dedication of the new library was held a few weeks after Haul-It Day, on March 5th, 1967, as guests filled the lobby of the new building.
In March 1972, the library was officially named the Thurmond Clarke Memorial Library, in honor of the Southern California United States District Judge. Clarke's widow, Athalie R. Clarke, was a life trustee of Chapman and generous benefactor of the campus library.
Changing Times
Serving as the Chapman library for nearly four decades, the Thurmond Clarke Memorial Library spanned a period of many changes, both on-campus and off. Now that the library had its own building, the long-standing tradition of library events and exhibits, which the Leatherby Libraries still engages in today, began. One such event was a day of storytelling by folklorist Richard Chase in 1973.
The Thurmond Clarke Memorial Library also saw the greatest shift in technology. Two years after its construction, typewriters were added to the library in July 1969, a development that must have been a huge relief for students who needed to turn in papers without writing them by hand. Only 24 years later, in the Fall 1993 semester, the library made a huge technological jump into the Information Age when it was officially connected to the internet.
Into the 21st Century

While early pictures of the Thurmond Clarke Memorial Library seem to come from a long-ago past, later pictures show a much more modern, familiar-looking library. Staff members smile behind the Reference Desk in color photographs, and the library's newsletter, Cognitio, began in January 2000.
As Chapman University entered a new century and a new millennium, though, it was time for a new library, one we know and love today.

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