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© 2006 University of Chicago Library
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When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: University of Chicago. Friends of the Library. Records, [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library
The Friends of the Library of the University of Chicago (1933-1942) was an organization comprised of faculty, staff, alumni, and other individuals interested in developing the resources of the University Libraries. The idea for the Friends was originally conceived by M. Llewellyn Raney, then Director of the University Libraries, as a means of obtaining money to supplement a dwindling library budget. The University Administration approved Raney's idea, seeing the organization as, additionally, a valuable public relations tool. Officially, the Friends group was inaugurated in 1933, and was governed by an elected Executive Board; however, the Board seldom met in the years 1934-1937 and not at all after 1937. Raney willingly shouldered primary responsibility for Friends' activities -- he planned meetings, suggested purchases, and wrote and edited the group's publication, The Courier. The Friends of the Library faded into inactivity after Raney's retirement as Director of the Library in 1942.
The Friends of the Library Records consists of papers pertaining to the initial organization of the Friends of the Library of the University of Chicago, which was an organization comprised of faculty, staff, alumni, and other individuals interested in developing the resources of the University Libraries. The collection includes the correspondence, minutes, membership lists, and financial records of the organization, all organized chronologically, also included are invitations, speeches, and correspondence pertaining to Friends' meetings.