UConn grew rapidly after WWII
as returning veterans pursued their college education
subsidized by the G. I. Bill.

• Library Director William Uricchio
• Law School Building Constructed 1962-1964
• Architect Frederic C. Teic
• Contractor Bonvicini Building Co.
• Library Space 13,154 sq. ft.
• User Population 1,200 undergraduates, 800 graduates, public Seating 230
• Collections 80,000 volumes, 200 current journals, full access to UConn Libraries’ print and online resources
• Public Terminals 8
• Group Study Rooms 2
• Quiet Study Rooms 2
• Wireless Capability

The Harleigh B. Trecker Library traces its roots to 1939, the year that Connecticut State College in Storrs became the University of Connecticut by an act of the state legislature. In that year, the university established its presence in downtown Hartford, offering extension courses in the upper floors of the “old” Hartford High School, the first of several locations for the new program. In those early days, the librarian played a number of significant roles according to late history professor Freeman Meyer, including, “supervisor, librarian, registrar, secretary, and bookseller.”

In the 1950s, UConn’s Hartford Branch Library
occupied the former horse stable of the
Goodwin Estate on Asylum Avenue.

Subsequently, the program and its library moved to various public schools as both continued to expand. World War II brought a huge growth spurt to the university. UConn was called upon to train factory workers for the military effort, and what had been a small extension effort in Hartford blossomed into a full-blown branch campus in 1946 when returning war veterans sought heavily subsidized college educations under the G. I. Bill. The library, begun in one corner of a single room, soon occupied several rooms.

In the early 1950s, the Hartford Branch moved to its first real campus on the Goodwin Estate on Asylum Avenue. The main classrooms and administrative offices were located in the estate’s mansion, while the library, some faculty offices and other operations took up residence in the estate’s former horse stable. Students, faculty and librarians of the time noted that on rainy days the odor of hay permeated the place, even though the horses were long gone.

In 1970, UConn’s Hartford Branch was moved to West Hartford, and the library was relocated to the top floor of a new, three-story undergraduate building, which, while reportedly lacking Goodwin’s charm, at least brought library services into the 20th century.

The library served mostly undergraduates, but three graduate level libraries also figure into the history of the Trecker Library. In the early 1960s, the UConn Law School moved from a mansion in the West End of Hartford to a new building on Asylum Avenue in West Hartford. This splendid edifice housed a state-of-the-art (for its time) law library, and would, in time, become the home of the Trecker Library.

The current Trecker Library was established in 1985 when
the previously separate undergraduate, social work,
and MBA collections were merged in the former Law School Building.

Another Hartford area graduate program, the School of Social Work, was relocated to a new building on the Asylum Avenue campus in the late 1960s. This operation, which originated in the 1940s, had its own well-stocked library. And yet a third graduate activity, the Hartford area Masters of Business Administration curriculum, occupied a Hartford mansion and managed its own library. Both of these libraries would eventually become part of the Trecker Library.

In 1985, the UConn Law School departed from the Asylum Avenue campus and moved to the former campus of the Hartford Seminary. After lengthy debate, it was determined that the vacated Law School Building would be retained by UConn to house several university services, including a library that would combine the undergraduate, social work and MBA operations. The name, Harleigh B. Trecker Library, honoring a long-time dean, was already in use for the social work library and was carried over to the newly reorganized staff and collections.

In 1985, the UConn Law School departed from the Asylum Avenue campus and moved to the former campus of the Hartford Seminary. After lengthy debate, it was determined that the vacated Law School Building would be retained by UConn to house several university services, including a library that would combine the undergraduate, social work and MBA operations. The name, Harleigh B. Trecker Library, honoring a long-time dean, was already in use for the social work library and was carried over to the newly reorganized staff and collections.

NOTE: This article is adapted from an article on the library’s web page, where more pictures are shown. See http://www.lib.uconn.edu/campuses/hartford/hbtweb/history.html. Images in this article are courtesy of the UConn Archives in the Dodd Research Center.

Reported by: William Uricchio