Seymour Library

Knox College was founded in 1837 by a group of Abolitionists from upstate New York, led by George Washington Gale, a Presbyterian minister. The original plan for the school was the establishment of a manual labor college for men where students would work 2-3 hours a day in order to pay for their tuition, while being trained in what was essentially a preparatory seminary program. There was also in the original plans the intent to establish a female seminary to train women both for “missionary and domestic” life. Knox’s inclusion of higher education for women was not the only progressive principles on which Knox was founded. Gale and his fellow founders were anti-slavery, and while there was already an anti-slavery network in the southern part of Illinois, Gale wanted to create a center surrounding the school and community where they could enact actual anti-slavery work. Not only was Knox founded on anti-slavery principles, just 21 years after its founding (1858), the college cemented its place in abolition history by being host to the fifth Lincoln-Douglas debate, which was the first occasion upon which Lincoln denounced slavery on not just economic, but also moral grounds. Knox College was designated a “Freedom Station” by the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in 2006.

Knox’s first library was stocked with books Gale and his fellows had brought with them from New York, as well as contributions from Hiram Kellogg, the college’s first president, and donations from families of the surrounding town of Galesburg. These collections were all housed in the original college Seminary building, which later burned down in 1848. This led to a call for the rebuilding of a core college building, with explicit need expressed for a library. The oldest campus building still standing, Old Main, was built in 1857 and housed the modest library of about 3,000 volumes. Soon after were added the collections of the Adelphi and Gnothautii literary societies. These libraries were housed in wings once connected to Old Main, bringing the total count of disparate libraries on campus up to three. These libraries were used commonly by members of the literary societies and other students. After the Civil War, the societies moved their collections into separate rooms in Old Main proper. Shortly after the move, these libraries were joined by the Society for Religious Inquiry library. The libraries centralized on the main campus were also joined in number by the library in Whiting Hall, the female seminary school building.

All of these separate libraries created a confusing landscape of books and information that were often difficult to navigate, and generally not well promoted or organized, particularly by modern standards. In 1887, then Student Librarian John Huston Finley got fed up with the disorganization and created the first Knox College Library Catalog. The Catalog included all three main libraries, each with their own section, as well as a Magazine Catalog, which had been created by Edward Caldwell three years before and included all the periodicals not only in the Knox College libraries, but in the Public Library as well, some of which are still held in the Seymour Library collection today. Unfortunately for the legacy of Finley’s work, it wasn’t long before his Catalog became obsolete. In 1891, Alumni Hall was erected and both literary societies and the college moved their libraries into one central collection in the new building. Library advancement continued as in the 1898-89 academic year, the library implemented the Dewey Decimal system. There was a brief hiccup in 1900 when the library moved back to Old Main, but was restored to the Alumni Hall Library in 1902, thanks to then-president Thomas McClelland’s work with Andrew Carnegie to secure $50,000 for its construction. 

Finally, by the 1920’s, it was becoming clear that while the Alumni Hall Library was an improvement, it was not all Knox needed. Many volumes were either destroyed or missing from the Alumni library, and George Davis Hall (then the science building) still had its own separately housed collection. The libraries at Knox needed organization and consolidation. Thus, Librarian Lucius Elder began working with Henry Seymour to build a new library that would provide a central location for all the collections as well as an opportunity to catalog and organize them in a systematic way. At the time, Finley and Caldwell, old friends from their college days, were beginning to build book collections of relevant local geographic and historical texts, with the intention of creating a rare book collection at Knox College. Due to their influence at the College, this rare book collection (The Finley Collection) became a central concern in the construction of Seymour Library (Henry Seymour having been another of their close college friends). Seymour Library in its original construction opened on Founders Day in 1928.

By 1954, it was becoming clear that while Seymour Library was a beloved, well used building on campus, it was becoming insufficient to house all of the Library’s constantly growing collection. Along with regular publication and purchasing, the Finley Collection was attracting more donations of rare and valuable books from prestigious collectors, so the decision was made to build an addition. In 1957, the books were removed from the West Stack wing and construction began with its demolition. When it opened in 1958, Seymour Library was designed to hold 150,000 books and had a chic new look (which covered the warm, early 20th century design of the original central library). This addition was named for Edward Caldwell. Seymour saw its last major renovation in 1987, when again the library found its capacity being pushed. Key considerations of this renovation were modern improvements to the Special Collections and Archives facilities (which now have their own climate controlled offices in the central column of the building), as well as a return to the older, warmer aesthetic of the original library design. This renovation included additions of storage and study spaces, including the Finley Room. 

Now, Seymour shares its library duties with the Umbeck Science and Mathematics building, which houses the science library, as well as a few smaller department libraries in their respective campus buildings, but is still the central library and study space for Knox students. Seymour has within its collections over 300,000 volumes and employs student workers on a Work Study program, carrying on the legacy of Knox’s original Labor College model. 

“Knox College Circular & Plan,” Knox College. Accessed 12/03/2020. https://www.knox.edu/about-knox/our-history/circular-and-plan 

“Galesburg Colony at Knox College,” Knox College. Accessed 12/03/2020. https://www.knox.edu/about-knox/our-history/knox-and-galesburg-history/underground-railroad

Douglas, Jeff A. “Before Seymour: A Brief History of Knox Libraries from 1937 to 1928,” Knox College. http://knoxlibrary.knox.edu/archives/localhistory/seymourhistory/history7.html

Douglas, Jeff A. “Gems on the Prairie” ILA Reporter, (June 2010): 11-13. 

“History of Seymour Library,” Knox College Library, Knox College. Accessed 12/03/2020

National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, https://freedomcenter.org/about/history/