When Eleazar Wheelock founded Dartmouth College in 1769 he had already established the nucleus of its library ‹ a collection of books that had in large part been given by supporters in England and America who shared his faith in the educational and missionary efforts he had undertaken. Doctor Wheelock appointed as Dartmouth's first librarian Bezaleel Woodward, who also served as tutor and trustee and later as vice president and professor of both mathematics and natural philosophy. During the College's first year, the Hon. Theodore Atkinson, Secretary and Chief Justice of the Royal Province of New Hampshire, led an enduring roster of benefactors by donating the huge sum of £100 for the purchase of books and by 1774 the visiting historian Jeremy Belknap could observe, "The college library is kept at Mr. Woodward's. It is not large, but there are some very good books in it."

The Library at this time probably did not greatly exceed 350 volumes. By 1800 it was approaching 3,000 and had increased another fivefold by the outbreak of the Civil War. Outgrowing successive locations, it approached a quarter-million volumes by the opening of Baker Memorial Library in 1928 and in 1970 passed the one million mark. In 1994, the Library celebrated its two-millionth acquisition. This carefully-guided growth of the book collections has in recent years been accompanied by substantial additions of microforms and electronic formats.

Not by size alone has the Dartmouth College Library earned its reputation as one of the outstanding libraries of this country. Qualitatively, too, it has gained a national eminence derived in large measure from the patient, perceptive, and persistent building of collections over many decades by innumerable individuals: library staff, faculty members, and legions of thoughtful, generous friends.

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~library/friends/page1.html
May 25, 2000