|
| 1817 |
The Catholepistemiad,
a public institution and the predecessor of the University of Michigan,
was created in Detroit. One of its main purposes was the provision of
education from the grammar school to the university level.
[10]
|
1838: Audubon's Birds of America
|
| 1837
|
The
Michigan Legislature created the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Even
in these early days, the importance library resources was recognized. Funding
was allocated for library needs and the Reverend Henry Colclazer was appointed
to the position of librarian by the board of regents.[10] |
| 1838 |
In February of 1838
the Library’s first purchase was made when the Regents approved
$970 for John James Audubon’s Birds of America. The original copy
of this book is still in existence and is held in the Special Collections Library. [10]
|
| Asa
Gray was appointed as Professor of Botany and Zoology and charged with purchasing
books for the library. Over the next couple of years, with a $5,000 budget
and the assistance of London bookseller George P. Putnam, over 3,400 volumes
were purchased. [10] |
| 1840s |
This
was a period of slow growth for the Library. Students needed faculty approval
to borrow library books and, even with such approval, they could borrow
a maximum of two books at a time. [10] |
| 1844 |
George
Pray spent the afternoon reading in the University Library and wrote
in his diary: "It is discouraging to an ambitious and ardent-minded
student to enter a large library and see how much there is to be learned
and how impossible it is to learn all things."
[11] |
