A Short History of the College Library: Home

The Watts-de Peyster Library, built in 1897, faced College Avenue.

1897-1898 - First College library building constructed in Richardsonian Romanesque style at a cost of $16,055 plus $990 for a steam heating plant and $5,150 for steel book stacks; Named Watts-de Peyster Library after Frederick de Peyster and John Watts, father and maternal grandfather of donor, John Watts de Peyster (1821-1907); Library collections were formerly housed in the Literary Society buildings and in the college library, ground floor/Old Main; M. (Michael) O'Connor of Hudson, NY., Architect; George H. Oster of Lancaster, Builder. Original cornerstone laid May 1897 is located in lobby along with busts of John Watts and John Watts de Peyster. A sculpture of the donor's ancestor Abraham de Peyster was located in front of the building along College Avenue. It was moved to Buchanan Avenue in 1937, and then moved slightly again in 2019 to accommodate the construction of the Winter Visual Arts Center.

1928 - Remodeled at a cost of $10,000.

1937 - Razed.

The original Browsing Room of Fackenthal Library, ca. 1955, was dedicated to B.F. Fackenthal's wife Sarah Riegel who died in 1925. It is now the site of the SorakSpace.

1937-1938 - Fackenthal Library constructed in Colonial Revival style at a cost of $250,000, incorporating portions of the Watts-de Peyster library into the core of the new structure. Named after and funded by B. F. Fackenthal, Jr. (F & M Trustee); Begun April 19, 1937 (cornerstone laid July 28). William H. Lee, Architect (Philadelphia). D.S. Warfel, (Lancaster) Contractor. Mural by John C. Wonsetler.

1938 - May 31st, Fackenthal Library dedicated.

1960s-1970s - Lobby woodwork painted and other alterations.

1981-1983- Fackenthal Library enlarged and renovated at a cost of $4.1 million. Architects Shepley, Bullfinch, Richardson and Abbott of Boston, MA. Completed January 1983.

1983 Oct. - Dedication of renovation and addition; renamed Shadek-Fackenthal Library; in honor of Arthur Shadek, member of Board of Trustees and major donor to library renovation.

The facade of Fackenthal Library shortly after being renamed Shadek-Fackenthal, ca. 1984.

1984 - College Archives and Academy Room opened (built as part of the renovations).

2006 - Two group study rooms created out of sections of first floor of the Shadek wing.

2006 - Lobby repainted.

2013-2014 - Faculty Center constructed in the west side of the second floor of the Shadek wing.

SparkSpace (right).

2015 - Renovations- Exterior woodwork painted. Cataloging department moved to renovated space on the ground floor (former Archives and Special Collections). Former Cataloging Office renovated into a smart classroom/ technology space named SparkSpace in recognition of a bequest to the library from Anna Sparks (F&M Parent 1966) and George Sparks (F&M 1966). Former group study rooms and adjoining office near Periodicals Room renovated into offices to house staff from Information Technology Services' Instructional and Emerging Technologies. Mezzanine balcony removed from Periodicals Room and room completely repainted and refurnished. Doorway added between Periodicals Room and SparkSpace. Lobby, Reference Room, Periodicals Room recarpeted. Media Services' DVD/CD collection moved to library and incorporates into circulating collections.

Martin Library of the Sciences

1988- 1990 -Martin Library of the Sciences constructed. The $5.1 million Martin Library of the Sciences, which opened at the start of the 1990 Fall semester, was officially dedicated and named in 1991 for Aaron J. Martin, Ph.D. '50, who was chairman of the college's Board of Trustees from 1985 until the spring of 1991, and his wife Jean. The Martins, along with members of the Benjamin Rush Society, were directly responsible for financing the building's construction. Architects for the 19,000-square-foot structure were Shepley Bulfinch Richardson & Abbott, and the general contractor was Warfel Construction Company of Lancaster, PA. The elegant facade was modeled on the streamlined symmetries of the 16th century Italian architect Andrea Palladio, and the open, uncluttered interior design echoes this as well. The library houses on three floors approximately 58,000 book volumes and over 400 periodical titles (initially gathered from the campus's main library and dispersed science departments). These include F&M's biology, chemistry, geology, physics, mathematics and astronomy collections, as well as a large selection of psychology titles. The College's Computing Center occupies the ground floor, and includes a fully equipped electronic classroom, a computer store, and staff offices. In addition the first floor contains a computer workroom, directly opposite the Circulation Desk, for use by students, faculty, and F&M personnel during the library's hours of operation, along with workstations placed just outside the workroom's entrance.

A Technical Services Room located to the rear of the Circulation Desk houses the microform reader/printer/scanners, videos and video cassette players, CDs and computer workstations. Current periodicals are displayed on the first floor's west side, while indices and reference holdings are opposite to this on the east.

The second floor contains the bound periodical holdings, and drawers for a large number of topographical and other maps. The Martin Library is a certified depository for science-related U.S. Government Documents, including an extensive collection of U.S. Geological Survey maps, and these too are on the second floor. The third floor mezzanine houses the major portion of the circulating titles, with new acquisitions specially displayed opposite the Circulation Desk and flanked by a curving, oak-encased reading area.

The library has seating capacity for 95 readers. This includes carrels as well as individual and group study rooms. In addition a Seminar Room on the second floor is available for classes, meetings, audio/visual demonstrations, and so on. Photocopiers are available on the first and second floors.

Source: Whipple, Linda. "The Martin Science Library" F&M news, Vol. III, no.3. October/November 1990. Revised January 2004.

2010 - Information and Technologies Services offices move to renovated space in Harris Center with the exception of Network and Systems.

2010-2011- Former computer workroom on the first floor and classroom on the ground floor renovated to house library's Archives and Special Collections.

2012 - Microfilm collection removed and consolidated with Shadek-Fackenthal Library collection.

2013-2014 - Former Computing Center on ground floor reconfigured and renovated to house library study spaces and bound periodicals A - Jo. Book stacks moved to 2nd floor and bound periodicals Jo-Z moved to Mezzanine. Excess shelving removed from mezzanine to create open study space. Additional spaces on ground floor reconfigured for Information Technology Services' Network and Systems unit and College Communications. Former Technical Services room on the first floor renovated to become Quantitative and Sciences Center.

2015 - First floor completely repainted and first floor and mezzanine recarpeted. New furniture acquired for mezzanine increasing library seating capacity to about 250. Reference Collection moved to second floor.

John Watts DePeyster
1821-1907
Soldier, Author, Philanthropist

John Watts DePeyster at the age of 70, 1891.

Born in New York City, DePeyster was the descendent of early New York Mayor (1692-1694) Colonel de Heer Abraham DePeyster (1657-1728). A member of a wealthy family active in civil and military affairs, DePeyster authored numerous works on military and world history and served as Brigadier General in the New York State Militia in the 1850s and during the Civil War. Although ill health prevented DePeyster from serving as a field commander, he was active in raising and training troops and was granted the honorary rank of Brevet Major General in 1866 for his service. After the war the General continued his literary pursuits and civil leadership, advocating improvements in New York's police and fire protection, and became a benefactor to many municipalities, charities and libraries, including Franklin and Marshall.

DePeyster's association with the College began in 1885 when he donated books to the Diagnothian Literary Society as a gesture for their having elected him an honorary member in recognition of his literary achievements. A friendship then developed between Abraham Rothermel, the secretary of the Society, and General DePeyster that resulted in further donations to the library. In 1897 DePeyster donated $25,000 to build the College's first library building which was located on this site until replaced by the current structure in 1937.

On May 12, 1897 the cornerstone (now on display in the lobby of the current library) of the new Watts-DePeyster Library (named after DePeyster's father Frederic and grandfather John Watts) was dedicated by a party of dignitaries including Abraham Rothermel, College President John Stahr, Librarian John B. Kieffer and Architect M. O'Connor. Curiously DePeyster did not attend the dedication nor did he ever visit Lancaster in his lifetime. By the end of the decade the College had granted DePeyster three Honorary degrees in recognition of his generosity.

by MRL, 1999

Benjamin Franklin Fackenthal, Jr.
1851-1941.
Industrialist, Philanthropist

Benjamin F. Fackenthal (1851-1941) F&M Trustee. Oil on canvas, ca.1938. Originally hung in Browsing Room. Currently displayed in Academy Room.

The death of Dr. Fackenthal had brought to an end the marked career of a great industrialist and a munificent benefactor who for forty-two years had served faithfully on the Board of Trustees of the College, and who had been the efficient President of the Board since 1915. He had never been a student at Franklin and Marshall, but had always been an ardent supporter of the Institution, giving generously of his time and means to further the best interests of the College.

Dr. Fackenthal was born June 2, 1851, at Doylestown, Pa. He attended the public schools and also took special courses in chemistry and metallurgy at Lafayette College. While he did not graduate from Lafayette College he received from that institution very deservedly an honorary degree of Master of Arts in 1891, of Doctor of Science in 1911, and of Doctor of Laws in 1929.

Dr. Fackenthal had a strikingly successful industrial career. At the age of fifteen he became associated with the Durham Iron Works. In 1872 he became superintendent of works and mines. Three years later, at the age of twenty-four, he was promoted to the position of general manager of Cooper and Rewitt's blast furnaces and mines at -Ringwood and Pequest, N. J., and at Riegelsville, Pa. From 1893 until 1913, he served as President of the Thomas Iron Company and as President of the Ironton Railroad. From 1893 to 1926 he was associated with the Clymer Power Company. In 1927 he assumed the presidency of Taylor, Styles and Company, knife works. Dr. Fackenthal also served as vice-president and chairman of the Executive Committee of the Easton Trust Company, and as Director of the Lehigh Portland Cement Company of Sault Ste. Marie.

Over a period of thirty years, Dr. Fackenthal was a generous benefactor to Franklin and Marshall College. In 1910 he gave a large endowment to the College which provided for the B. F. Fackenthal, Jr. Professorship of Biology, a Chair held by Dr. Richard C. Schiedt and later by Dr. Mitchel Carroll. The Fackenthal Laboratories he erected in 1929 not only added to the campus a handsome building of colonial type architecture but furnished the College with the most complete modern equipment in biology and chemistry. The following year he made possible the erection of the Fackenthal Swimming Pool, adjoining the gymnasium and completing the group of buildings at the end of the quadrangle in the lower campus.

His most generous gift was the Fackenthal Library, erected in 1938. This beautiful edifice contains modern equipment in every detail, and provides facilities for study, research, and recreation.

- by H.M.J. Klein, excerpted from History of Franklin and Marshall College 1787-1948. Lancaster: Franklin and Marshall College Alumni Association, 1952. pp 281-283

Arthur J. Shadek
1924-1999.
Attorney, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist

Arthur Shadek at the dedication of the Shadek-Fackenthal Library, October 15, 1983.

Arthur Shadek served as a trustee, vice chairman of the board, and trustee emeritus of Franklin and Marshall College from 1973 until 1999. A long-time resident of Alpine, New Jersey, he also served as a trustee of the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, where he was a member of the class of 1946 . After receiving his law degree from Columbia Law School in 1948, Mr. Shadek worked as a patent attorney and later as a private investor. As strong supporters of F&M, ( a son, Laurence '72 and daughter, Katherine '81 both graduated from Franklin and Marshall College), Mr. Shadek and his wife Katherine donated generously to the College, providing scholarships, endowed professorships in the humanities, and funds for a new library. In April 1982 the Board of Trustees voted to name the library's new addition the Arthur and Katherine Shadek wing in recognition of their support of the library expansion. In October 1983 the completely renovated library was renamed the Shadek-Fackenthal Library in recognition of the library's most generous benefactors.

Aaron J. Martin
1928-2021
Chemist, Philanthropist

Aaron J. Martin, class of 1950, is a Lancaster native. Upon graduation from Franklin & Marshall, Martin studied chemistry at the Pennsylvania State University, where he received a masters in 1952 and a Ph.D. in 1953. Martin extended his interest in chemistry research to E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. in the 1950s. Later, he created the F&M Scientific Corp., a manufacturer of gas chromatographs. The company merged with Hewlett Packard in 1965; and, in 1999, Martin was inducted into the Instrumentation Hall of Fame. Martin served as a member of the Board of Trustees from 1973 to 1998. In 1985, he was elected Chairman of the Board. Martin was largely responsible for the construction of the Martin Library of the Sciences in 1988-90. In 2002, he received an honorary doctor of science degree.

Before 1888 the position of College Librarian (director) was a part-time job carried out by a member of the faculty. This was sufficient since the College Library collection was very small and only occupied a small room located in Old Main. The majority of the books available to students were kept by independent libraries maintained by the Diagnothian and Goethean Literary Societies. However with the College growing it became necessary to make the position more or less full-time in 1888. The first College Library building didn't become a reality until 1897.

Pre-1888 part-time Librarians.

Theodore Appel 1853-1866
John Summers Stahr 1866-1888
 

Full-time Librarians.

John B. Kieffer 1888-1910
A. Lee Shulenberger (acting) 1910-1911
C. Nevin Heller 1911-1914
Madeleine J. Scheidt 1914-1918
Ellen Kathrin Bowman 1918-1919
Ethel M. Leonard 1919-1920
Mrs. B.W. Luttenberger 1920-1922
Doris E. Stone 1922-1927
Herbert Bulow Anstaett 1927-1966
William A. Pease 1966-1977
A. Richard Kneedler (interim) 1977
Peter Haskell 1977-1981
David Lewis (acting) 1981-1982
Kathleen Moretto Spencer 1982-1996
Charles Myers (interim) 1997-1998
Pamela Snelson 1998-2014
Scott Vine 2014- 

Reference Room mural by artist, illustrator John C. Wonsetler (1900-1979), ca.1938.
Key to the Library Mural

Dominating the design stands the heroic Janus-headed figure of Research striding from the mists and Damp of the past to a firm position upon the written word of past generations, spanning the thoughts of men who have worked and died, so that the thoughts of future men may be bold and enlightened.

Cultures of the Past

One face, the Face of Age and Wisdom, turns to the Past with its many types of cultures. The pyramids typify the culture of the Nile Valley. Oriental and Semitic culture are symbolized by their distinctive architecture. The Greek classic head is the type of Greek thought and the Roman aqueduct and soldier symbolize the force and aggressiveness of Roman power.

The Romanesque Church and medieval walled town typify the Gothic spiritual force in pre-Renaissance times until the old forces of Classic intellectualism met and meshed with the forces of the Christian Church. This movement resulted in today's social inheritance and is typified by the printing press, the use of which gave its culture and doctrines more immediate and widespread reading.

Dominating this passage is the head of the Metaphysician, symbolizing the thought and writing which bind these cultures together. Below is the Craftsman, plying his bellows, typifying the innovator who works to the future, at whose forge of genius Research receives the divine spark of truth. Below are the tablets of the law, foundation of present judicial systems and the cell of the early struggling men of science who kept alive the spark of research through the Dark Ages. The Plowman and Reaper typify effort and accomplishment.

The college is symbolized by the heads of Franklin and Marshall, who also symbolize the great example, the great effort and the great accomplishment of all seekers after the truth.

Over the right shoulder of Research rises the sun of knowledge, shedding its beneficent rays upon the line of students who march to seek their life's work and who delve into old cultures and experiment with new theories as symbolized by the other face of Research.

Looking to the Future

This is the face of youth and experiment, which looks to the future, and with the aid of age and wisdom, and firmly standing upon a solid foundation of technical and philosophical knowledge, marches forward with the light of truth to new fields with fresh endeavor and to new things unheard of in the world today, as typified by the professions into which the serious student will enter, industry, business, art, politics, government, law, engineering, science, labor, social research, pedagogy, medicine, mechanics and electrics and kindred subjects, which all depend upon new ideas and incessant research for new developments and new applications.

Dominating this passage are the Scientist and Planner, who symbolize the growing tendency to control mass effort (as typified by the line of labor) and of the products of that effort, as against the free and haphazard growth of isolated thoughts and practices in past ages.

Thus Research, with its double face of Accumulated Wisdom and Free Interpretation, stands ready to aid the individual, not only to enjoy the world's general store of knowledge for its own sake, but to help him on to new achievement in his chosen profession.

Almost in the middle of the mural, beneath the heroic figure of Janus, stands a preacher, facing front with an open Bible, symbolizing the origin of the college and the influence on modern civilization of the Christian Church.

- excerpted from Dedication program of Fackenthal Library, May 31, 1938. p 39.

The Franklin and Marshall College tapestry was created by the F&M Women's Association in honor of the 1987 bicentennial of the College. Twenty-three persons worked on the six by eight foot needlepoint tapestry a total of 7,200 hours over a three-year period to complete the tapestry's 1,207,881 stitches. One hundred different colors of yarn were used to depict College buildings such as Appel Infirmary, Goethean Hall, Shadek-Fackenthal Library, Old Main, Diagnothian Hall, Marshall Gate, Hartman Hall, Steinman College Center, and the Brew House (original location of Franklin College). Other depictions include the Benjamin Franklin and John Marshall stained glass window in Nevin Chapel, the Hensel Hall cupola, Shadek-Fackenthal Library pediment, and various campus trees. The border contains medallions and other symbols depicting disciplines of study. These include Physics, German, Sociology, Astronomy, Geology, Anthropology, Biology, Music, Economics, Classics, Mathematics, English, Athletics, Religious Studies, Business Administration, Drama, Psychology, History, Modern Languages, Government, Philosophy, Chemistry, Art, and Phi Beta Kappa. 

The tapestry was dedicated January 16, 1987. Originally installed in the Steinman College Center, the tapestry was later located to Shadek-Fackenthal Library and now hangs behind the main circulation desk.

Source: Lawson, Patti. "A Stitch in Time" F&M Today, February 1987; RG 0/01/01 F&M Bicentennial records, College Archives. 

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