Collection Timeline

1900 to 1986

1900
By this time the library had expanded into a second (reading) room.

1903
An early subscription

1907
Bookcases take a backseat to athletics in this 1907 photo showing the library's collection, far left, housed in the gymnasium's wings.

1917
Hitting the books at library study tables
Study tables

1936
Article features a photo of multi-storey office tower in downtown Spokane as image of 'The New Library'
Students checking out books in 1936, while student clerks sort books behind the counter. The library still had 'closed stacks', inaccessible to most students.

1937
The library's second-floor periodicals reading room

1940
Yucking it up in the Law Library

1943
Library displays in 1943 featured daily war reports on the 'Pacific Battlefield' and other fronts.

1949
Cover of early edition of the Bookmark

1957
students reading newspapers. Photographer Roy Bell, Photo Services
Artist's rendering of 1957 design
The entrance is visible, lower left, just above the stairs. The clock on the exterior wall is just left of where the clocktower / staircase now stands.

1965
Article clipping from the Idahonian newspaper

1967
1967 <i>Argonaut</i> cartoon shows &quot;Library Gestapo&quot; frisking priests at the door. The library had just introduced baggage checks, in response to book thefts.
George Kellogg, in a 1967 newspaper photo

1968
Article clipping from the Idahonian newspaper

1975
Article clipping from the Argonaut newspaper

1980
Article clipping from the Idahonian

1986
Type written document by Robert D. Hook and Richard J. Beck