Online

Lehman, Douglas Kent

History

2004

M.A.

In 1885 the University of Vermont dedicated a new library building, the Billings Library. The donation of Frederick Billings, a lawyer and railroad magnate, the library was constructed to house the personal library collection of George Perkins Marsh and the library collection of the University. Marsh, a native of Woodstock, Vermont, had built a personal library of approximately 10,000 volumes of materials in a variety of subjects and in a wide range of languages. Many of his contemporaries considered it one of the finest private libraries of its size in the world. Billings, who grew up idolizing Marsh, secured the library and made it a gift to the University. When the University, represented by President Matthew Buckham, declined to build a fire-proof library to house the collection, Billings pledged $75,000 to build a building. As it became clear that the cost of the building was escalating, Billings never hesitated and eventually paid around $150,000 to build and furnish the library.
Designed by Henry Hobson Richardson, one of the three greatest architects in the late nineteenth-century, the Romanesque-style library provided the University with one of the most striking academic libraries in the country. Richardson controlled every aspect of the construction, but refused to make use of recent advances in library architectural planning and design. As a result, the library, while a very attractive facility to the eye, presented an obsolete use of interior space and functionality.