This Saturday, July 7, 2018, we are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Library’s landmark building, which opened to the public in July 1918. It was designed by Joseph W. Royer, with a $35,000 gift from Mary E. Busey, as a memorial to her husband, Samuel T. Busey. We will have exhibits, music, special remarks, cake and specialty drinks from the Café, games and activities from the early 1900s, and more.
Want to know all there is to know about this event and the Library’s history?
See Anke Voss, Director of Archives & Special Collections, talk with CiLiving about the upcoming Centennial Celebration. [link no longer available]
Read Tom Kacich’s News-Gazette article, “Library 'second to none' built without magnate's dough.”
Watch Thomas Kuipers’s talk ‘100 Years of the Samuel Busey Memorial Library’ presented at the Champaign County History Museum.
Check out Smile Politely’s “The Urbana Free Library celebrates 100 years in their permanent home.”
See you on Saturday!
Sherrie Bowser
Archives Librarian