Architectural History of Sterling Memorial Library

Exhibit Room

Sterling Memorial Library Exhibition Room

The entry to what is now Manuscripts and Archives formerly served as the library’s Exhibition Room. This room is now the Manuscripts and Archives Cowles Reference Center, where people using Manuscripts and Archives’ collections are welcomed by library staff and set up for their visit. Across the hall from what is now Manuscripts and Archives, the Grand Exhibition Room still holds exhibitions of manuscript material, printed books, visual works, and objects. The room is vaulted in Manquedo stone. The room has a fan vaulted ceiling, with painted plaster webs and bosses suggesting illuminated manuscripts. The corbels on the low windows depict readers, singers, musicians, and a printer. The two panels over the arches to the exhibition cove depict Elihu Yale's and Yale University’s respective coats of arms.