BiblioTech Connections: Newsletter of the Tisch Library

The Tisch Library (1860-present) opened in 1996 as the main Arts, Sciences, and Engineering library at Tufts University, made possible by a generous donation from the Tisch family. Between 1965 and 1996, the Arts and Sciences library was known as the Wessell Library. From 1908-1965, the library was known as the Eaton Library and was housed in Eaton Hall.

Prior to the 1860-1861 school year, the library began as the personal collection of President Hosea Ballou. In 1860, that collection was moved to Ballou Hall as a permanent library space for students to have easier access to the material. In 1886, the library moved to Middle Hall (later called Packard Hall) (Light on the Hill, 74). In 1906, Andrew Carnegie donated $100,000 to build the Eaton Library, in its own space. The Eaton Library, completed in 1908, was named after Crane Theological School graduate Rev. Charles H. Eaton, who was the Carnegie family pastor who graduated in 1874 (Light on the Hill, 201).

In 1965, the entire collection of the Eaton Library moved into a brand-new building, the Wessell Library, named for Tufts University President Nils Y. Wessell. The collection comprised of Crane Theological School materials temporarily moved into the Wessell Library in the mid-1960s, but the materials were transferred to the Harvard Divinity School in 1973 after the Crane Theological School closed in 1968.

The Wessell Library, which then became the main library for Arts, Sciences, and Engineering (the latter department moved its collection to Wessell Library in 1990 from the Lufkin Engineering Library). In 1996, the name of the library was changed to the Tisch Library after a donation from the Tisch family (Jonathan Tisch is an alumnus and is on the Board of Trustees). The library currently houses the collection for the Arts, Sciences, and Engineering departments.