As we celebrate fifty years of Hillman Library, we are looking back at the history of libraries at the University of Pittsburgh. The libraries of the University of Pittsburgh have been in a constant state of progression dating back to the school’s very beginnings. Hugh Henry Brackenridge, founder of the University’s predecessor the Pittsburgh Academy, wrote in his 1792 novel Modern Chivalry that “men in the learned professions require propinquity to the libraries of Apollo as well as the seats of the Muses,” indicating the importance he placed on books and education.

After becoming the Western University of Pennsylvania in 1819, the school’s library grew, only to be completely lost in the Great Fire of 1845. The University and its library rose from the ashes even stronger than before, accepting its first major gifts of book collections and hiring its first trained librarian. As the University of Pittsburgh (renamed in 1908) grew from a local to a national and then an international university, so too did the library collection, necessitating the construction of the school’s first standalone library building, Hillman Library, which opened in 1968.

For information on our events for Hillman's 50th Anniversary: https://library.pitt.edu/hillman50