Construction to Begin on New Library

Groundbreaking ceremonies are being held today for the $1.6 million Peabody Museum library addition. The new library--scheduled for completion in June 1974--will house a collection of over 100,000 books and pamphlets on anthropology and ethnology.

The Tozzer Library will be situated adjacent to the Museum on Divinity Ave. and is being named after the later Alfred M. Tozzer '00. Tozzer, a Mayan scholar who taught at Harvard until his retirement in 1949.

The 20,000 square-ft. library will rise three stories, one of which will be semi-subterranean and will help to relieve overcrowded and inadequate shelf and storage conditions in the present library.

"The finest anthropology library in the country has been squeezed into less than 6,000 square ft. Priceless rare books have not received proper storage, and students and staff alike have been forced to use this important resource under nearly intolerable conditions," Stephen Williams, director of the Museum, wrote in a recent library prospectus.

The new building was designed by Johnson, Hotvedt and Associates, Inc., of Boston, and will include a landscaped courtyard. Archeological artifacts will be dispersed throughout the building. A two-story Maya stella will dominate the library entrance, penetrating to the second floor of the building.

Williams stressed that the brick facade will be in keeping with the architectural mood of buildings already in the Museum quadrangle. "President Bok was very firm that the building had to upgrade the entire surrounding area. We are landscaping the entire quadrangle in conjunction with the construction," Williams said. The courtyard is being named in honor of the late Francis Boyer '16, a former Museum benefactor.

Funds for construction were provided by the Tozzer family, the Francis Boyer bequest and the Program for Science in Harvard College.