'Fisher Ames Baker Memorial Library' is the main
library at
Dartmouth College in
Hanover,
New Hampshire. The
fresco, ''The Epic of American Civilization'', was painted by
José Clemente Orozco in the lower level of Baker Library.
Baker Library opened in
1928 with a collection of 240,000 volumes. The building was designed by Jens Frederick Larson, modeled after
Independence Hall in Philadelphia, and funded by a gift to
Dartmouth College by
George Fisher Baker in memory of his uncle (Fisher Ames Baker, Dartmouth class of 1859). The facility was expanded in
1941 and
1957-
1958 and received its one millionth volume in
1970.
In
1992, John Berry and the Baker family donated US $30 million for the construction of a new facility adjoining the Baker Library; in
2000, the Berry Library opened. The
Dartmouth College libraries presently hold over 2 million volumes in their collections.
Topped by a 6'8" weather vane, the tower itself stands 200 feet above campus.
External links
★
History of the Dartmouth College Library
★
Baker Library Bell Tower