Exhibit celebrates Brandeis National Committee and Brandeis Libraries

National Women's Committee Promotional Photo (1959)

WALTHAM, Mass. -- The latest exhibit of the Robert D. Farber University Archives & Special Collections Department commemorates two interconnected institutions at Brandeis, both entering their sixth decade of existence. "Sixty Years and Counting" commemorates the 60th anniversary of the Brandeis National Committee and the Brandeis Libraries.

Established several months before the fall 1948 opening of Brandeis University, the Brandeis National Committee—formerly known as the Brandeis University National Women’s Committee—was instrumental in developing a library befitting the ambitious mission and goals of the new university. The organization was founded by eight Boston-area women, all dedicated to establishing a first-rate academic library; it did not take long for the Brandeis National Committee to grow into the largest friends of a library group in the country.  In doing so, the BNC transformed the Brandeis Libraries from a rustic horse stable into a modernist trio of buildings that accommodated more than one million volumes.

The Brandeis Libraries would not exist were it not for the tenacious and savvy fundraising efforts of the Brandeis National Committee. To date, the organization has raised more than $113,000,000 on behalf of the university, the majority of which has supported the Brandeis Libraries. This exhibit honors the BNC and its indefatigable work on behalf of the Brandeis Libraries and Brandeis University.

The exhibit is on display until the end of January in the Goldfarb Library, Level 2, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For more information, please contact Karen Adler Abramson at kabramso@brandeis.edu or 781-736-4701.