John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library

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 in Providence, Rhode Island. It is one of five individual libraries which make up the Brown University Library.

John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library
General information
TypeLibrary
Architectural styleBrutalist[1]
Location10 Prospect Street, Providence, Rhode Island, United States
Coordinates41°49′32.61″N 71°24′18.32″W
Completed1964
Design and construction
ArchitectWarner, Burns, Toan & Lunde [2]
DeveloperBrown University
Main contractorE. Turgeon Construction Company

The library was named after John D. Rockefeller Jr., who graduated in the class of 1897. The building was constructed between 1962 and 1964 and designed by Danforth Toan.[2] 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.[1]

The library houses Brown University's East Asian Collection, which started in 1961 after Charles Sidney Gardner 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.[3]

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

See also
  1. Dee, Gabrielle (9 September 2014). "Rockefeller Library celebrates 50 years". The Brown Daily Herald. Providence, RI: The Brown Daily Herald. Retrieved 4 April 2018. the Rock stood out not only because of its prime location at the top of College Hill, but also because of its modern, Brutalist architecture
  2. Mitchell, Martha (1993). "Rockefeller Library". Encyclopedia Brunoniana. Providence, RI: Brown University Library. ASIN B0006P9F3C. Retrieved 2007-12-06.
  3. http://library.brown.edu/collections/eastasian/
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