Tucker Hall

Tucker Hall, located at 350 James Blair Drive, houses the Department of English and the Linguistics and Medieval & Renaissance Studies programs. Sitting along the north side of the Sunken Garden, it was the first building dedicated as a library. It opened in 1909 as the result of a partnership between William & Mary and Andrew Carnegie’s mission to build libraries nationwide. Tucker Hall served as the library until the opening of the Swem Library in 1966. 

It honors St. George Tucker, William & Mary’s second law professor, Virginia Supreme Court justice, and federal judge.

In 1905, Andrew Carnegie was solicited for funds to build a new library. He pledged $20,000 if the College would add an additional $20,000 for support and upkeep. The funds were quickly raised, and R.K. Harwood and J.A. Moss were contracted to construct the library for $14,697.

The cornerstone was laid at a ceremony on April 13, 1908 - Thomas Jefferson's birthday. George Clinton Batchellor, the principal donor ($10,000), was given an honorary LLD. The 12,000-volume library was completed in December, but the dedication and public opening were not until May 13-14, 1909.

The library had a stock room and a fireproof vault in the north wing, offering space for the occasion dances that were held there. In 1922, William & Mary received $25,000 from the Carnegie Endowment Corporation to build an addition from a design by Charles M. Robinson. Harwood & Moss built the addition for $16,290.50. The renovation, completed in 1923, doubled the size of the library, transforming it into an H-shaped building. The old stack room became a reading room and offices. The new three-story high stack room had a capacity of 50,000 volumes (with a capacity up to 150,000 volumes). Above the offices was a fire-proof vault.

Another addition was planned in 1928. Farmville Manufacturing Company was awarded the $84,432.77 contract (along with a follow up $4,508). The 3-story addition used steel and brick to add 20-foot extensions on all sides. Two 120-foot reading rooms were constructed to hold 500 students, the volume capacity was expanded to 400,000 volumes, and the basement was rendered fire- and waterproof. A marble staircase adorned the center of the former front reading room. Busts of George Washington and Robert E. Lee were placed in niches on the sides of the stairway. The project was completed in time for the spring in 1930 at a cost of $100,000. The law library was housed on the third floor.

In 1941, new men's and women's lounges were opened in the basement at a cost of $12,000. The following year, Librarian Earl Gregg Swem had exterior ivy removed to prevent dampness. In 1943, an airplane spotting station moved into the tower.

Photographs of the Library revealed the following:

• Basement - offices for acquisitions, archives, archives vault, technical processing, documents and periodicals.
• Main floor - card catalog; main reading room; portraits on the wall; and busts of John Marshall, George Wythe, and William Blackstone. There was a large grand staircase up to the second floor.
• Second floor - stacks
• Attic - storage for Lyon G. Tyler Papers and uncatalogued manuscripts and government documents.

In 1958, due to increased enrollment, the Virginia General Assembly appropriated $1 million for construction of a new library - paving the way for Swem Library. In 1966-67, the building underwent renovations to prepare it for its new tenant, the Law School. The first floor became offices for deans and secretaries and a faculty-student lounge. The old main reading room became the law library, including offices for a librarian and tax specialists. The second floor held the Moot Courtroom, two main classrooms, faculty offices, and the Law Review Office. The third floor became home to the Wythe Society. The new tenant brought along a new name, as the former library was renamed Marshall-Wythe Hall in 1968.

The name didn’t last long. In 1980, the Law School moved into a new building on Henry Street. Taking its place was the Department of English. Prior to that, the English Department was spread between the Wren Building, The Brafferton and Kitchen, and the Chancellors basement. With the move, Marshall-Wythe Hall became Tucker Hall, honoring former Rector and law professor St. George Tucker. In 1987, the Roy R. Charles Center and a new writing center were established. The writing center eventually moved into Swem Library in 2009, while the Charles Center relocated to Blow Hall.

In Fall 2009, the English Department moved to Tyler Hall (now Chancellors Hall) during renovations. In August 2013, faculty and staff moved back. Glass-walled classrooms now greet visitors on both sides upon entering the building's front door. There is a lecture theater in the building's rear and an atrium lit by daylight streaming in through the cupola. The atrium provides an informal space for student gatherings or small presentations. The cupola perhaps best illustrates one of Tucker Hall's signature features: its lighting.

From the Abbreviated History of Swem Library

By Frederick P. Gibbs, Class of 1958, August 2007; See Swem Library for Rev. Gibbs' complete essay.

In the dawn of the next century, during the lengthy presidency of Lyon Gardiner Tyler, a 30' by 80' brick edifice (where Tucker Hall now stands) was built to accommodate a burgeoning library. By 1919 the one-story structure contained a collection of 18,000 volumes. That year welcomed the presidency of Julian A.C. Chandler and an era of campus construction - Blow Gymnasium, Phi Beta Kappa Hall (now Ewell Hall), Rogers and Washington, dormitories for men and coeds, and an expansion of the library from one story to three.

Enter Earl Gregg Swem

As President Chandler observed the upward and outward enlargement of Tucker Hall to provide adequate space for the steady influx of new books, he realized the necessity of hiring a professional to manage and develop a library that in a few decades would rank commendably among Southern colleges.

Born in Iowa in 1870 and the recipient of both a Bachelor's and Master's degree from Lafayette University, Swem had been associated with the Library of Congress and the Virginia State Library and was a recognized bibliographer of manuscripts and historical records before he arrived on campus in 1920. During his 25-year tenure as college librarian, Swem saw the quantity of books increase from 25,000 to more than 240,000, established the Archives and Manuscript Department, opened the stacks to both students and public, taught classes in library science and edited the William & Mary Quarterly. He retired on July 1, 1944, and died in 1965 at the age of 94.

By the early 1950s concern mounted about the threatening inadequacies of the library. A 1959 plan to replace Tucker Hall with a larger facility at the western end of the Sunken Garden was abandoned. With the new administration of Davis Paschall in 1961 came the development of a new campus west of the existing one. During Homecoming Weekend 1963 a groundbreaking ceremony prepared the way for the new 136,000 sq. ft. library which the Board of Visitors chose to name for Dr. Swem.

Material in the Special Collections Research Center

• University Archives Photograph Collection, Special Collections Research Center, Earl Gregg Swem Library, William & Mary. Including: "Buildings & Grounds--Old Library" Folder; P1980.110 (interior), P1977.340 (aerial), P1979.836 (.1914), P1979.44 (c.1926), P1982.48 (interior c.1925), P77.240, P77.245, P77.247, P77.287, P77.294-298, P77.315-318, P1977.333, P1977.339, P77.343, P77.427, P78.212-213, P79.40-45, P79.47-67, P79.86-88, P79.185-199, P79.214-278, P79.836, P1980.110, P1980.123, P1980.131, P1981.21, P1981.165-181, P1982.48, P1982.185-186, P1982.190-197, P1982.224, P1982.226-230, P1982.232-234, P1985.25-29, P1985.57, P1986.123, P1986.42, P1987.153, P1987.200, P1987.441-443, P1987.463-465, P1988.138, P1988.329, P1989.121, P1989.162, P1989.354-361, P1989.363-369, P1989.374-376, P1991.100, P1998.4.
• 1908-1909 Catalog, p. 11
• Colonial Echo: 1909 p. 78; 1911 p. 4 (interior); *1922 p. 16, 18; 1926 p. 22; 1928 p. 18; 1931 (last addition, center); 1969 p. 302 (north facade, remodeling for courtroom)
• circa l916-Bulletin, Vol. IX, No. 4, p. 19 (interior)
• Flat Hat student newspaper; search the index available in the SCRC by person's name, student group name, event, or topical heading; Selected articles: 28 March 1929; 1 November 1929; 10 January 1956.
• Alumni Gazette March 1959, 4-9; December 1968, 5-7
• Thorne, Thomas Elston (pencil sketches), University Archives Faculty-Alumni File Collection.
• Various Blueprints, Facilities Management Records.
• Check the Tyler Family Papers, Group H, Box V, Folder 8 for a reference to a "....proposal for a fireproof library."

In the News

• Tucker smell solved: sewage drain left open 20 years ago, The Flat Hat 1 July 2008.
• Tucker Hall renovations on hold at William & Mary, Daily Press, 24 June 2010.