SITY COLLEGE
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Volume 18, Number I
ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
August. 1975
DANA LIBRARY SYMBOLIZES COLLEGE OF LAW'S GROWTH
Expansion of Physical Facilities and Collections
Reflects Stetson's Response to Changing Demands
The story of the College of Law since its inception on the DeLand campus of
Stetson University in 1900 has been publicized too many times to justify another
recital of historical facts.
Nevertheless, since the College has just completed three quarters of a century
of achievement, it is natural for one to look back over the past to find some basis
for predicting the future. In so doing,
the growth and development of the College of Law library stands as a symbol.
First Fund Drive — $500
When the first president of Stetson
University, John Franklin Forbes, was
satisfied by the late summer of 1900
that the College of Law could begin
operation in October, he immediately
requested a trustee, A. G. Hamlin, to
conduct a campaign "to raise $500 from
the attorneys of Florida to purchase
library books."
The College did not begin its career,
however, solely in reliance upon this
meager provision for the establishment
of a library. Through the generosity of
the bar of Florida, then known as the
Florida Bar Association, which had urged
the establishment of the law school, it
had already received the reports of
the Florida Supreme Court and United
States Supreme Court and a few other
books of reference. By 1910, the Stetson Catalogue could boast that the
school had "every case decided in the
court of last resort of every state in
the Union since 1870" — obtained
through subscription to the West Publishing Company's National Reporter
System. Also, graduating classes through
the formative years, though small, added
materially to the library collection by
class gifts and memorials.
In 1953, the year before the College
of Law was moved from its Naval Air
Station "campus" north of DeLand to
its present St. Petersburg location, the
Bulletin reported a library collection of
approximately 18,000 volumes. By the
time these volumes were sorted and
placed in hastily improvised stacks at
the St. Petersburg site, it is doubtful if
more than 15,000 were in usable condition.
Dana is Principal Donor
The first major step toward giving
Stetson one of the finest libraries in the
Southeast came in January, 1958, when
the present library building was completed through the generosity of Charles
A. Dana, its principal donor, and other
friends of Stetson. By dedication day,
March 8, there were about 30,000 volumes on the shelves, which, with foresight, were designed to accommodate
more than twice that number. Only thirteen years and one week later, March I 7,
1973, a major addition to the original
building was dedicated, which substantially more than doubled usable footage,
increasing shelving space from 70,000
to 160,000 volumes and providing for
future needs including Microfiche and
reader-printers. This addition, like the
original structure, was made possible by
a challenge gift from the Charles A.
Dana Foundation, Inc., which was generously matched by alumni, members of
the Bar and other friends of the College.
Book Count Increasing
At the present time the library contains more than 80,000 volumes, a far
cry from the hundred or so books that
were on the shelves of the one room
in Flagler Hall on the DeLand campus
which served for so many years as a
library. This increase is eloquent testimony to the dedicated efforts that are
continuously being made by the administration and faculty here in St. Petersburg to provide ample facilities of exceptional quality for legal study and
research. Donations in both money and
books by Stetson supporters and increased allocations from annual budgets
as funds became available have made
possible a rapid growth over the last
two decades. One of the most significant
contributions through the years was the
bequest of about $250,000 by Sarah E.
Armstrong, a prominent St. Petersburg
philanthropist, who died in 1962. Conditioned upon the death of life beneficiaries, the potential of this gift has
not yet been fully realized.
Last fall Dean Richard T. Dillon was
(Continued on Page 7)
SPACE SAVER. Reader - Printer reproduces
microform materials. Demonstrating use to
Kathryne Steffenson, cataloguer, is Ron Stroud,
head of technical services.
