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The University of Tennessee

Special Collections Library: University Libraries

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Scribes, Scholars and Students

Introduction

The 15th century brought a number of important developments for humankind. The Renaissance spread across Europe to spark a Scientific Revolution and marked the end of the Medieval period. The Renaissance brought new ways of thinking about art, literature, politics, religion, philosophy, and science.

The printing press and moveable type were perhaps the most significant developments of the Renaissance. In the mid 1400s, Johann Gutenberg printed a 42-line Bible, the first book printed using movable metal type in Europe. His equipment and techniques were quickly copied by other printers and engravers.

Scribes and monks continued to toil over manuscripts, but by the century’s end the classical canon had been printed and distributed across Europe. The printing press and the development of printing facilitated the spread of knowledge, literacy, texts, and a print culture that is still with us today.

At the end of the 15th century and into the 16th century, European explorers laid claim on North and South America. In addition to bringing their culture, diseases, and inventions to the “New World,” Europeans transported the ability to print. In 1640 the Massachusetts Bay Colony, founded only twenty years prior, produced the first printed book in colonial British North America, the Bay Psalm Book.

Many historians point to the importance of printed pamphlets and treatises (and thus the printing press) to the origins of the American Revolution. The ability to quickly and inexpensively produce large numbers of printed texts led to the spread of ideas throughout the colonies. Thus anti-British sentiment could be shared far outside of the cities without public readings and rallies.

Following the American Revolution, settlers pushed into western territories with texts, printing presses, and plans for establishing schools. In 1791, five years before Tennessee achieved statehood, George Roulstone moved to East Tennessee and began printing Tennessee’s first newspaper, the Knoxville Gazette. East Tennessee, especially Knoxville, continued as a printing center.

In 1794, a small preparatory school named Blount College opened in Knoxville. From the beginning, the school embraced the importance of the printed word. Following a number of antebellum reorganizations, name changes, and a Civil War battle, the school prospered. By the dawn of the 20th century, the university stood as a modern institution of higher education.

During the early 20th century, the university focused on building a library for its printed collections. In 1901, President Charles Dabney launched an effort to obtain a monetary gift from Andrew Carnegie. By 1909, the university had secured enough funds to meet Carnegie’s challenge. Built in 363 days, the Carnegie Library opened its doors on September 13, 1911. 

Library collections grew steadily into the 1920s. Donations of valuable books during this period included a 6,300 volume collection of Elizabethan drama and medieval romance from James Douglas Bruce. A specialist in the Arthurian legend, Professor Bruce joined the English faculty as chair in 1900. Alumni described Bruce as the professor who most beneficially influenced them.

He built the curriculum in medieval studies in what later became the Department of English, and those who have succeeded him as faculty in that area of scholarship have continued in much the same structure. In 1923, Bruce’s unexpected passing resulted in the donation of his library to the university. At the time, it was the most substantial gift ever received by the library, and it has benefited students and faculty for many decades.

By the late-1920s the university planned for a new library building, which would serve as a campus showpiece. Knoxville architects Barber & McMurry, designed a library building in the “collegiate Gothic” style, evocative of European cathedrals. Completed in 1931 the new Central Library, renamed the James D. Hoskins Library in 1950, celebrated the past while supporting the growing needs of faculty, staff, and students.

The Special Collections Library, established in 1960, is housed in the Hoskins Library and has a good amount of material for Medieval and Renaissance scholars and students.

The University of Tennessee embraces the value of the past through preserving rare texts, sponsoring scholarship, supporting academic programs, and celebrating significant periods in history.