Browse Items (28 total)

This excerpt from the Whitman's first course catalog from 1882 describes the library's holdings in its early years.

An excerpt from the 1894 course catalog detailing the library's holdings.

This excerpt from the 1920 course catalog details how the library had frown to occupy almost an entire floor of the Memorial Building and held nearly 50,000 bound volumes and pamphlets.

This excerpt from the 1943course catalog describes how the library had moved into Reynolds Hall, and lists a number of generous donors who helped greatly improve the size of the collection.

Arminda Fix was the first librarian at Whitman serving from 1899-1916. A Walla Walla native, Fix attended Whitman Academy then Whitman College, graduating in 1899. She subsequently attended library school in New York and studied at Columbia…

Arley Jonish was the college librarian from 1966-1989. He oversaw many changes to the library, including the addition of the Stuart Wing in 1974.

A student conducts business at the circulation desk, which in 1984 was located on what is now the first floor of Penrose Library. The desk was in the northeast corner of the building. Notice the pillar near the "Book Return" sign that leads to an…

Henry Yaple was college librarian from 1988-2005 He is seen here holdings a $1200 reference book, which is ???

When Penrose Library opened its doors in the Spring of 1957, classes were cancelled for a day so students could provide the manual labor to transport books to the new building. These students seem to be enjoying it!

Built to accommodate the growing library collections, the useful but unslightly "Shack" was added to the West end of Memorial Building, which housed the library from 1900-1934. The Shack was moved across Isaacs Ave and used by the physical plant…