CARLI Digitized Book of the Month – July 2015

Elms (1931)

“A library is but the soul’s burial-ground. It is the land of the shadows.”

This enigmatic quote caught my eye as I was browsing the 1931 edition of the Elms yearbook from Elmhurst College. What does it mean? Who said it? And why does this quote accompany this particular photo? The librarian in me had to find the answers.

A quick Google search told me the quote is attributed to Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887), an American Congregationalist minister who published many sermons, lectures and essays and who was an outspoken opponent of slavery during the Civil War era. The quote above is from his book, Star Papers; Or Experiences of Art and Nature (New York: J.C. Derby, 1855), and Ward is speaking specifically about his experience at the Bodleian Library at Oxford University, which he also describes as a “catacomb of books.”

Would Mr. Beecher feel the same way about libraries today? Perhaps; perhaps not. Certainly it is possible to feel as if you are surrounded by ghosts while wandering deep in the dusty stacks of a major university library. But, academic libraries are also vibrant places of learning and research, and academic libraries today are more likely to be actively contributing to learning and research on campus rather than simply storing it.

Having answered the first two questions, I turned to the third. Why is this quote paired with this particular photo? A little sleuthing revealed that the building on the right was the Elmhurst College library building. The building still stands on the campus today, but it is now the Deike Center for Nursing Education. The building’s past is still visible, however, in the words “Memorial Library” carved in the lintel above the entrance.

Click through the photo to browse more of the 1931 edition of Elms and view additional photographs of the campus paired with mysterious quotations.

Written by Alice Creason, Systems/Digital Collections Librarian at Lewis University

This volume was contributed by Elmhurst College. You can find this volume others from CARLI participant libraries in the Internet Archive.