Throughout the years, the physical landscape of the Reed campus has changed, but the rigorous academics and life of the mind have remained the same. Using photos from the Reed Centennial Archive, I want to investigate the architectural history of our 116-acre campus. This Olde Reed exploration focuses on the heart of the campus: the Eric V. Hauser Memorial Library AKA the Hauser Fun Dome.
Check out the gallery and get a Reed-flavored blast from the past.
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- Student looking through the card catalog, circa 1984
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- Thesis parade with falling papers, 1986
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- Hauser library exterior, 1935
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- Front entrance to the Hauser library, 1970
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- South reference room in the Hauser Library interior, ca. 1930
Click each image to enlarge. From left to right:
Photo 1: In the year 2013, I can easily find and renew books online through the Reed Library website. I can sit in the New Pit of the library and browse for titles without even leaving my desk. I can’t imagine the days when students used the card catalog in the south reference room of the library. The 80’s weren’t that long ago, but card catalogs seem like a thing of olde.
Photo 2: Say hello to the 1986 Thesis Parade, a child of the 60’s and the peak of the bacchanalia that is Renn Fayre. While the students aren’t as scantily-clad or glitter-covered as present day Renn Fayrers, current Reedies can identify with the scruffy beards, sunglasses, and smiles we all associate with the party in front of the library. These students are congregating in front of the old west entrance to the library, and pages of theses are floating down from above. Personally, I prefer the rose petals.
Photo 3: Here is a view of from the west across the Great Lawn of the Eric V. Hauser Memorial Library in 1935, five years after it was built. This would be unrecognizable from the same vantage point on the present day campus, and I am having a hard time identifying where exactly on the lawn this photo was taken. This photo reveals the similarities in architecture between the library, Old Dorm Block, and Eliot Hall. After the new additions on the library, it is harder to notice the matching original aesthetic.
Photo 4: Apparently, loitering outside of the library never gets old. These 70’s students are chatting outside of the west entrance of the library, just as current Reedies now congregate around the main north entrance before and after classes. Notice the small sign on the right of the entrance that prohibits dogs in the building. It’s in the same classic calligraphy that is quintessential of Olde Reed!
Photo 5: There are no two ways about it: this is a beautiful photo. Look at the light streaming through the windows! This is a view of the south reference room in library right after it was built ca. 1930. The librarian, Nell Unger, is sitting at the first desk, and if you look closely you can see the card catalog. The reference rooms are some of the best places to study in the library, especially because they are close to the printers!
Want to explore more Olde Reed? Check out our previous post on Reed’s past, or stop by the Reed Centennial page for hundreds of pictures.
