Rad Lib Conversion Estimated at $725,000

The Radcliffe library will undergo a $725,000 renovation next year to accommodate the Radcliffe Institute for Independent Study and the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America.

The renovation, which will take one year, will start when the new Hillis Library, near Radcliffe Quad, is completed, probably in September.

The plans for the building, which were recently approved by the Radcliffe College Council, call for the addition of a story; a revision of the present floor plan; installation of studies, music rooms, art rooms and a new elevator. The building's exterior will not be changed.

The basement will contain work space for the Schlesinger library's Notable American Women project and the closed stacks. The Fiske Room, on the first floor, will house an office, study cubicles, and a reference collection. Open stacks will be in the Irwin Room, and the Whitman Room will become the library director's office.

The Radcliffe Institute will use the rest of the building. A new story, with about half the footage of the first floor, will be placed between the present second and third stories.

A lecture hall will occupy that part of the second floor which will continue to have a 20-foot ceiling. The rest of the second floor will house research and administrative offices.

Top Floor Studios

Radcliffe Institute members will have studies and a common room on the new third floor. Four art studios, two music studios and more studies will be on the top floor.

The Institute, which presently has its offices at 76 Mt. Auburn St., is seeking $2,000,000 to finance the renovation and to provide operating funds for the Institute.

The Radcliffe Institute was founded as an experiment in 1960 and is now being made a permanent part of Radcliffe's educational facilities. It provides research fellowships and runs a guidance program and a series of seminars for adult women.

The Schlesinger Library, formerly the Women's Archives, is now located in Byerly Hall.

Barbara Tuchman, an alumna, has contributed $150,000 in royalties from her new book, The Proud Tower, for the renovation, Laurence S. Rockefeller has contributed $150,000 which must be matched, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund has contributed another $150,000 to be matched.