The John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, nicknamed "the Rock", is the primary teaching and research library for the humanities, social sciences, and fine arts at

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

. It is one of five individual libraries which make up the Brown University Library. The library was named after

John D. Rockefeller Jr. John Davison Rockefeller Jr. (January 29, 1874 – May 11, 1960) was an American financier and philanthropist, and the only son of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. He was involved in the development of the vast office complex in M ...

, who graduated in the class of 1897. The building was constructed between 1962 and 1964 and designed by

Danforth Toan Danforth Toan (1918-2013) was an architect known for Brutalist architecture who specialized in college libraries across North America. As a founding partner at Warner Burn Toan & Lunde Architects, he contributed to the design of dozens of buildings ...

. The building drew attention as the first building in the area constructed in the Brutalist style, and alongside the Sciences Library, Graduate Center, and List Art Building, is one of the campus's four significant examples of

Brutalist architecture Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the ba ...

. The library houses Brown University's East Asian Collection, which started in 1961 after

Charles Sidney Gardner Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

donated about 30,000 volumes, most of them Chinese. In 1965, a Federal grant led to the formal establishment of the East Asia Language and Area Center, which has since become the East Asian Studies Department. The University began to acquire Japanese works after a grant was received in 1980. The collection itself now includes a Korean collection. The most recent renovations of the "Rock" include the creation of the David and Laura Finn Reading Room (2009), the Patrick Ma Digital Scholarship Lab (2012) and the main floor reading room (2014). The John D. Rockefeller Jr. library should not be confused with the

Cambridge University Library Cambridge University Library is the main research library of the University of Cambridge. It is the largest of the over 100 libraries within the university. The Library is a major scholarly resource for the members of the University of Cambri ...

at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

which was built with funds from John D. Rockefeller and is colloquially referred to as the Rockefeller Library.

References and external links

Rockefeller Library
{{Authority control Library buildings completed in 1964 Brown University libraries World Digital Library partners Federal depository libraries

See also

References and external links