Alice McManus Clark Library - University of Nevada, Reno
N 39° 32.250 W 119° 48.894
11S E 258089 N 4380210
The Alice McManus Clark Library is now known as the Clark Administrative Building, home to the office of the University President and other administrative staff and located on the University of Nevada, Reno campus.
Waymark Code: WMJYKX
Location: Nevada, United States
Date Posted: 01/17/2014
Views: 2
Nearest the gate is (L) the ALICE McMANUS CLARK LIBRARY (open during university year 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Mon. to Thurs. inc.; 7:30 to 6:00 p.m. Fri.; 7:30 to 12:30 Sat.; 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. Sun.; during summer vacation 9:00 to 12:00 a.m.). The library contains about 62,000 volumes excluding 12,000 Federal documents and several thousand pamphlets. Of great interest are the murals and charcoal drawings of Robert Cole Caples, and the Cardinal Rampolla collection of Italian and other marbles presented by Mrs. Ludovica D. Graham of Reno.
Clark Library today:
Dedicated in October 1927, this building was originally the Alice McManus Clark Library and was to replace a temporary library, which is now the Jones Center. The building, designed by Robert D. Farquhar of Los Angeles, was donated to the University by William Andrews Clark Jr., in memory of his wife, Alice McManus Clark. The building houses the President’s Office, Provost’s Office, as well as the Offices of University Vice Presidents for Student Services and Administration and Finance, the Divisions of Planning, Budget and Analysis, Student Life and the President’s Special Assistant for Diversity. Additionally, it houses the Office of Student Judicial Affairs and offices for Student Transition Programs. ~source
Another writeup on the history of this building reads:
In 1926, William A. Clark, Jr., donated $250,000 to the University of Nevada, Reno for the construction of a new library. Clark’s father was the well-known mining tycoon William Clark, after whom Clark County was named. The new library was named in honor of William Clark, Jr.’s wife, Alice. Because this building was specifically designed to be a library, reading rooms and collection shelving areas were in abundance, making access to resources much more convenient for students and faculty.
By 1944, the library held over fifty thousand volumes. This was a dramatic improvement over the roughly five thousand volumes that comprised the collection when the University moved to Reno fifty years earlier. Before long, however, the University was again faced with the challenges that accompany success. The growing number of books and other resources surpassed the capacity of the Clark Library. To accommodate these books, departmental collections had to be stored in various locations on campus. This provided a temporary but less than ideal solution.
In December 1956, after significant growth was projected for the University, librarian James J. Hill and the Faculty Library Committee realized that the university needed a new library four times the size of the Clark Memorial Library. Therefore, in 1959, after state funding and private donations were obtained, the Board of Regents approved the new library’s architectural design and the razing of the campus infirmary building next to Lincoln Hall. Ground was broken for construction of the Noble H. Getchell Library in January of 1960, and the cornerstone ceremony was held on September 19, 1961. Getchell Library opened for use in February 1962. ~source
The Person:
Wife of Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra founder William Andrews Clark, Jr., she was well known for funding several University of Nevada scholarships and following her death, her husband funded the building of the Alice McManus Clark Library, now known as the Clark Administration Building at the University of Nevada-Reno. ~source
I could not obtain any other information regarding the life of Alice McManus Clark. She was only 35 years of age at her passing and I am very curious to know why she passed prematurely. She was the second wife of William Andrews Clark.