Vigo County Historical Society

Restoration in Normal Library’s future

In a community that has almost become resigned to watching its finest old buildings tumble like so many lined-up dominos, at last we have the opportunity to hear such hopeful words as "restoration" and "renovation," and these applied to what was once the most magnificent building on the Indiana State Normal (now Indiana State University) campus.

The Normal Library was begun in 1907 and completed in 1909. Pictured here on a postcard from the collection of Paul and Helen Martin, the library featured a white Indiana limestone exterior, Italian renaissance architecture, and Ionic pilasters. Seventeen stone steps rose from the north side of Eagle Street, which then passed through the north side of the area knows as the Quad.

The building’s interior was equally magnificent. Large columns surrounded a massive circulation desk centered in a spacious reading room furnished with fine wooden tables and chairs. The focal point of the building was the beautiful stained-glass dome atop the building, which consisted of wreathed medallions on 24 glass panels, each of which paid tribute to some great philosopher or educator of the past. Below the names were passages from documents important to Indiana education. The center of the dome was an oil reproduction of Raphael’s drawing of Philosophy.

When the library opened in 1910, planners had not foreseen the rapid expansion of student enrollments and the overwhelming proliferation of information created by advancing post-war technologies in the 1940s and 1950s. This growth eventually led to the building of Cunningham Memorial Library, which has served the university since 1973.

The interim years, however, were not kind t the old Normal Library. In the mid-1950s, ostensible in the interests of function, the long steps and grand entrance were removed; a wing was added to increase the building’s book capacity, at the cost of ruining the building symmetry and exterior beauty; and the beautiful stained-glass dome was torn down, smashed, and the ceiling plastered over. (The minutes of the meetings where the decisions to make these alterations were made might make interesting reading.)

The old library has continued to decay over the years, its use limited to housing some university offices and audio-visual services. It also houses the university archives.

So what lies ahead for this piece of ISU’s early history a building older than any other on campus except the Condit House? For preservationists, the news is very good. According to historian Herbert Rissler, the university’s board of trustees has approved the renovation and restoration of the building and is currently studying architectural plans.

Plans include restoring the grand entrance, complete with steps, removing the ugly wing, and perhaps even recreating the elegant stained-glass dome. Six of the original glass panels have been restored and now hand in Cunningham Memorial Library.

According to Rissler, the restored library will continue to house the archives, and also very likely will become a center for information services. Funding for the project is expected to come from private sources.