Smith to Dedicate New Library Gallery

Entering Smith College's Neilson Library will soon be a more cultural and aesthetic experience, thanks to recent renovations in the library's corridor and the opening next week of the Morgan Gallery just inside the entrance.

The gallery, which will feature showcases on either side of the foyer displaying prized manuscripts, historical papers and photos, noted books and other materials from the college's Mortimer Rare Book Room, will be dedicated by President Ruth J. Simmons at 4 p.m. Friday, April 9. The dedication, which is free and open to the public, will take place as part of the annual meeting of the Friends of the Smith College Libraries. A reception will follow.

Constance Morrow Morgan, for whom the gallery is named, is a 1935 alumna and a longtime college benefactor. She is the late daughter of one-time acting Smith president Elizabeth Cutter Morrow and the sister of alumna Anne Morrow Lindbergh. Morgan served as a college trustee from 1958 to 1972 and received a Smith medal in 1974 in recognition of her achievements. In 1996­97 the Morgan family donated her substantial collection of rare books to the rare book room. The Morgan gallery was designed by the Shelburne Falls architectural firm Juster Pope Frazier.

Immediately preceding the dedication, the public is invited to attend the annual Friends of the Libraries lecture at 2:30 p.m. in Seelye Hall 106. Acclaimed novelist Maureen Howard, a 1952 Smith graduate and author, most recently of "A Lover's Almanac," will discuss "Moveable Type to Megabytes: A Writer's Survival in TechnoWorlds."