50 Years in the Books: Rebecca Crown Library Celebrates Golden Anniversary

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Left: An early photo of the “Link” connecting Lewis Hall to the library. Center: The library’s dramatic circular staircase has a connection to Father Samuel Mazzuchelli. Below: The project committee worked with Sr. Candida Lund on the original concept for the library.

This story appeared in the Spring 2022 edition of the Dominican Magazine



The 50th anniversary of the Rebecca Crown Library was commemorated this spring through a series of events highlighting the library’s impact on campus and community. Special programs included a presentation by Steven Szegedi, Dominican’s archivist and special collections librarian, and a panel discussion with three School of Information Studies alumni, who are all now library directors. The university also welcomed Rebecca Crown’s granddaughter, Sara Crown Star, for a presentation on Rebecca’s life and legacy.

“The Rebecca Crown Library is not merely the heart of campus but in many respects is a physical manifestation of the mission of the university,” Szegedi said during his presentation detailing the library’s backstory. “The library embodies service, knowledge, empathy, truth in storytelling and open-heartedness to the world.”

Although the Rebecca Crown Library didn’t officially open until 1972, plans for a stand-alone library at the university date back to 1917. With the absence of a formal library, reference books were dispensed from packing crates on the third floor of Power Hall beginning in 1922, Szegedi said. Books that were considered essential were shelved in the third-floor lobby. For a time, the former Sisters’ community room served as the library before it was moved adjacent to Rosary Chapel (now the Noonan Reading Room), its location for approximately the next 40 years.

The need for a centralized location became increasingly apparent as there were five separate library collections throughout campus by the mid-1960s. Planning for a stand-alone library started in 1966 under the leadership of Rosary College’s then-President, Sister Candida Lund.

Funding for the new construction was achieved through a federal grant, low-interest government loans and private contributions. Chicago philanthropist Henry Crown was a principal benefactor. Named for his first wife, the Rebecca Crown Library officially opened on April 11, 1972, marking a significant moment in the university’s history.

Two defining features of the library are the exterior shape, which is that of a St. Andrew’s Cross, and the central staircase. “The circular staircase is a beautiful design element of the building, but it is also more than that,” Sister Lauretta McCusker said in a 1968 letter. “Father Mazzuchelli, the founder of our Dominican congregation at Sinsinawa, designed the circular staircase in the old Capitol Building in Iowa City, Iowa. And so, there’s a historical and sentimental reason for our choice of this feature in our new library.”

The Rebecca Crown Library has been continually renovated to meet the changing needs of a growing institution. Significant technological infrastructure changes made up the bulk of upgrades, and in 2020 a $4.5M renovation created the Donna M. Carroll Learning Commons, a space for collaborative learning and student support.

The 50th-anniversary celebration programming was supported in part by a gift from Paula Clifford McGuiness ’75 in honor of her mother, Tillie P. Clifford.