Recent Renovations at the Humanities and Social Sciences
Library
New York, April 26, 2002 -- The New York Public
Library at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street has undergone numerous renovations
and transformations over the past decade, allowing for modern technological
advancements, more efficient use of space, and restoration of the magnificent
details that have always made this building an architectural gem.
With the relocation of science and business holdings to the newly created
Science, Industry and Business Library in 1995, a re-visioning of the
space within the Humanities and Social Sciences Library became possible.
The restoration and renovation of the historic Beaux-Arts building was
by architects Davis Brody Bond LLP.
The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art,
Prints and Photographs
Opened January 2002
Nationally recognized for its consistent excellence, depth, and scope,
the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs
houses original works of art as well as reference materials covering painting,
sculpture, drawing, printmaking, photography, and the history of architecture
and design from prehistoric times to the present. The renovation
dramatically increased the public and staff space of the division, which
was consolidated on the third floor of the Humanities and Social Sciences
Library following the relocation of the Milstein Division and Rare Books
storage. Collection space was centralized and expanded; climate-control
mechanisms were installed; and a more efficient flow was created between
the reference staff, the readers, and materials through the redesign of
reference areas. The reconfiguration of staff work spaces into discrete
areas opened up the space within the division's magnificent reading rooms
for Prints and Photography and for Art and Architecture, and those rooms
were wired for tabletop computers. The renovation was made possible through
the generosity of Miriam and Ira D. Wallach, whose gift also supports
the digitization of collections.
Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III Gallery
Opened November 2001
The Wachenheim Gallery space has had many incarnations within the Humanities
and Social Sciences Library, most notably as the Frederick Lewis Allen
Room (see below), as a USO canteen during World War II, and as a room
for receptions held by Library Directors. Just off Astor Hall on
the first floor, this small, exquisite space is "as free from outside
distractions as Proust's cork-lined room," according to New York Times
writer Holland Cotter, and is ideal for the display of special items from
the Library's collections. The Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III Gallery
opened in the fall of 2001 with a four-day showing of the preliminary
Emancipation Proclamation.
.
Frederick Lewis Allen Memorial Room and the Wertheim
Study
Opened March 2000
The Allen Room and the Wertheim Study, on the second floor of the Humanities
and Social Sciences Library, both function as reading rooms for writers
and/or scholars who are working on ongoing projects. The Frederick
Lewis Allen Memorial Room was established by the Ford Foundation as a
tribute to the eponymous author and man of letters, who served on the
Library's Board of Trustees. The room was created for writers currently
under book contract to a publishing company for a period not exceeding
a year, and its occupants have included historian Robert Caro and feminist
writer Betty Friedan. Wood-accented and well-lighted, the space is fitted
with individual cubicles and shelf space, and wired for computers.
The adjacent Wertheim Study is for researchers working on long-term projects
that require the use of the general research collections. The handsome
space, formerly part of the Economic and Public Affairs Division (now
part of the collections of the Science, Industry and Business Library),
features communal reading room tables wired for the use of laptop computers.
The historian Barbara Tuchman, a donor to The New York Public Library,
named the room in memory of her father.
Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States
History, Local History and Genealogy
Opened February 2000
The Irma and Paul Milstein Division serves as a repository for American
history, genealogy, heraldry, and personal and family names, and serves
thousands of on-site students, scholars, authors, politicians, city planners,
and members of the general public each year. After the General Research
Division, the Milstein Division is the most highly used area of the Library.
In the renovation, the division was moved from its overburdened reading
room on the third floor of the Humanities and Social Sciences Library
into a restored suite of rooms off the north corridor on the first floor.
The renovation nearly doubled the size of the division's public reading
room, where patrons can conduct their research while looking out over
Bryant Park's London Plane trees. A separate microforms room was
created for users seeking genealogical information such as ships' manifests
and census statistics. The division was named for Irma and Paul
Milstein in recognition of their $5 million endowment gift.
Center for Scholars and Writers
Opened September 1999
The Center for Scholars and Writers provides the opportunity for 15 fellows
annually to explore the rich and diverse research collections of The New
York Public Library. It also serves as a forum for the exchange of ideas
among the fellows, invited guests, the wider academic and cultural communities,
and the interested public. A day in the life of a Library Fellow begins
in the Center's suite of rooms on the second floor, an oak-and-glass echo
of the renovations completed throughout the landmark Fifth Avenue building.
The Fellows each have private offices, all of which surround a comfortable
common area where Center occupants can gather to read, talk, and eat.
Public presentations are held in an intimate adjoining auditorium, the
Margaret Liebman Berger Forum, which offers seating for around 100 guests.
The Center was made possible by a leadership gift of $10 million, given
by Library Trustee Dorothy Cullman and her husband, Lewis B. Cullman,
in honor of Brooke Russell Astor. Major support also came from The
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Estate of Charles J. Liebman.
Deborah, Jonathan F. P., Samuel Priest, and Adam
R. Rose Main Reading Room
Opened November 1998
In 1911, the design by architects Carrère and Hastings for the
Humanities and Social Sciences Library was realized in a Beaux-Arts
building
of unusual splendor, and a room in which every detail -- from the reading
lamps, to the great oak tables, chairs, and gilded ornamental angels
above
-- reflected the ennobling nature of the pursuit of knowledge. The restoration
of the Deborah, Jonathan F. P., Samuel Priest, and Adam R. Rose Main
Reading Room, the heart of the Library, reclaimed this space from the
tarnishing effects of time and use. The project involved the labor of
hundreds of craftsmen over a period of 16 months. Notably, the black
paint, a World War II air-raid precaution, was removed from the window
panes;
the ceiling murals were repainted; and book-delivery systems were updated.
Every surface was refinished, cleaned, glazed, gilded, and restored
to
its original brilliance. Finally, the Rose Main Reading Room was "invisibly"
wired for the 21st century, with fiber optic network lines that rise
up from the stacks. The $15 million project was made possible
through the gift of Library Trustee Sandra Priest Rose and her late
husband, Frederick
Phineas Rose, and named for their children.
Bryant Park Stacks
Opened September 1991
In response to the chronic shortage of shelf space within the landmark
Fifth Avenue building, the Library created a $24 million two-level underground
extension of the book stacks with 37 miles of shelving. The project, funded
by the City of New York, enabled the Library to house 1.5 million volumes
beneath the grassy esplanade of Bryant Park, in what was at the time the
largest installation of high-density, mobile shelving in the world.
Books travel along a track in computer-controlled, custom-designed containers
to existing electronic dumbwaiters, reaching readers upstairs within 20
minutes. The 121,500-square-foot stack extension is connected to the Humanities
and Social Sciences Library by a 120-foot-long tunnel, which links lighting,
climate control, and ventilation to the main building. John L. Altieri
was the consultant for mechanical engineering.
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