Library a key part of institution for 120 years
Grace Mestad |
David Lipscomb has often been noted as a man before his time, a forward thinker and an innovator of education. For many years, Lipscomb dreamed of a school for Nashville that would break the mold, one that would allow students of all backgrounds, both male and female, to be educated in a way that was unlike other universities.
Lipscomb University, then the Nashville Bible School, was founded in 1891 to give students an opportunity to have a well-rounded education that used faith as the foundation from which the students could learn and grow.
In 1896, just five short years after opening their doors to the first students, professors had personal libraries that they allowed students to use to further enhance their education and curiosity toward new subjects.
It wasn’t until 1901, that an actual library collection was noted in the backlog, Lipscomb’s annual yearbook. The collection only held 300 books, but of those 300 books, students were continuously being given the opportunity to grow their knowledge and understanding of the world around them.
In the five years between 1896-1901, Lipscomb’s library collection grew from 300 to nearly 2,000 books. This growth solidified David Lipscomb’s goal of creating a university where students could embrace and encourage new ideas and feed their passion for discovering and learning new things.
Lipscomb wanted the college to be unlike any other Bible school. He didn’t want to limit students to only learning about the Bible, but instead, he sought to integrate faith into every aspect of the students course work, something students still experience today, 125 years later.
In 1903, Harding Hall, located today at Lipscomb Academy, held the college’s official library collection. At this time, students knew Harding Hall as College Hall. Later the library moved to Avalon, the president’s home on campus. Then again it expanded to Elam’s basement. Finally, the university built and dedicated the Crisman Memorial Library on Oct. 7, 1948. Crisman is now the administration building.
In 1991, the year of Lipscomb University’s 100th birthday, the university opened its present library, which was later named Beaman Library. Today, Beaman Library is home to 159,223 books for which students can still fulfill David Lipscomb’s purpose of not only pursuing their educational goals, but also creating change and improving humanity along the way.
For more information on the history of Beaman Library and its Special Collections, visit: library.lipscomb.edu.