The mission of Savery Library is to provide students, faculty, and staff with the resources and opportunities to support the mission and goals of Talladega College by selecting, acquiring and maintaining materials in all formats. Exemplary leadership in accessing, using, and evaluating the library’s program is a commitment strongly valued for maintaining a quality academic support unit for all patrons.
Circulation/Reference Department
Data Entry
Periodicals
Computer Laboratory
Science-Drop-In Center
Record Collection
Galangue Room (African Artifacts Collection)
Talladega Historical Collections/College Archives
The first library of the College was opened in 1874 with only 300 volumes. For many years there was not a library building, nor any librarians. Instead, holdings were supervised by students and faculty. A reading room was established in Swayne Hall in 1881, and by the end of that decade other reading rooms were set up in Foster Hall, the women’s dormitory, and Stone Hall, the men’s dormitory (destroyed by fire in 1980.) A special theological library was maintained in a two story frame building named Graves Hall.
In 1904, Andrew Carnegie was persuaded to make a substantial donation for the construction of a library for the College. The building of Indian limestone was dedicated in 1907. Carnegie’s library donations consisted of 7000 to 7500 volumes. By 1930 this number exceeded 30,000. Davis and Brooks of Hartford, Connecticut were the architects. O.R. Brown was superintendent of construction. The library was dedicated March 13, 1939. Durning the dedication ceremonies, the Little Theater performed Owen Dodson’s play, The Amistad. In April of the same year, faculty, staff and students transported by hand 20,000 books from the small obsolete Carnegie Library to the beautiful historical building which currently houses over 130,000 monographs and serials, electronic databases, a Record Room, a Computer Laboratory with more that 25 internet networked computers, a unique and highly valuable Archives Room, a Galange Room (Angolan art), a Science Drop-in Laboratory, and the historic Amistad Murals. The staff includes a library director, librarian assist, two part time archival/preservation assistant, circulation assistant acquisitions/data entry assistant, reference assistant and computer laboratory assistant.
With the completion of Savery Library in 1939, the Carnegie Library was remodeled for administrative offices and renamed Sumner Hall in honor of the fifth president of Talladega College (1916-1933). In 1963 the building was destroyed by fire.
Savery Library is a spacious, practical and quietly beautiful structure. Build in old Colonial style of New England, with a forty-foot chime tower, it stands on College Hill, completing the quadrangle around which centers the academic life of student, faculty and staff as well as researchers. It faces old Swyane Hall where Thomas Tarrant and William Savery labored as slaves and which in 1867 they led the Freedmen’s Bureau, the American Missionary Association, along with General Wager Swayne, to purchase for the founding of a college trustee. Old Swayne now looks across to a partner building, named in Savery’s honor.
Completed in the one hundredth year of the Amistad Incident and as a tribute to the American Missionary Association for assisting the capitves in returning to Africa, the library bears two lasting evidence of the centennial. Embedded in the terrazzo floor in soft colors of blue, green, and white and outlined with strips of brass in the picture of the ship named the “Amistad.” Student immediately decreed that it shall not be stepped upon, for its symbolizes the circumstances that gave birth to the American Missionary Association. On the wall above this floor piece in the central lobby is the triptych of the “Amistad” incident, murals covering a space six by forty feet depicting the revolt of the African slaves on the deck of the vessel, their defense in New Haven courts, and their return to Africa as freed men. The murals were painted by the noted black artist, Hale Woodruff who studied in the Academic Scandinave and the Academic Modern in Paris and spent a brief period under Diego Rivera of Mexico. The school’s motto and crest are also displayed in the lobby.
The buildings, erected at a cost of $150,000 with the exception of its oak trim and panels, its open shelved, and its furniture, all specially furnished, is entirely fire proof. The cement floors of the open stacks and the gypsum base of the Reading Room are covered with red carpet. The large 120-feet Reading Room is broken only at the far ends by pillars which create an alcove effect. So carefully was the lighting planned that it has been described by many as one of the best lighted rooms in the South, It houses the reference collections. Special events are also held in the Reading Room. Each of the four floors of the stacks gives access to a series of carrels and a service area, Archives, Periodical Room and Record Room. On the ground floor are the Computer Laboratory, Science-Drop-in Laboratory and the Data Entry Room. The mezzanine floor houses the Galangue Room with a collection of Angolan and Nigerian artifacts.
Talladega College -627 West Battle Street Talladega, Alabama
35160
Main Number 256-362-0206|Admissions 256-761-6235|Campus Security 256-761-6291
Business Hours: Mon-Fri, 8:00AM – 5:00PM
© 2008 Talladega
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