Sterling Memorial Library, the main building of the Yale University Library system, opened in 1931 as the centerpiece of Yale's Gothic Revival campus. Opened in 1931 and designed by James Gamble Rogers, it was meant to be the centerpiece of Yale’s Gothic Revival campus. The library’s tower rises with sixteen levels of bookstacks that contain over 4 million volumes, and several special collections — including the university’s Manuscripts & Archives — are housed inside.
A tunnel beneath your feet connects Sterling to the underground Bass Library, which holds an additional 150,000 volumes. The building takes its name from John W. Sterling, a lawyer representing Standard Oil, whose huge bequest stipulated an “enduring, useful and architecturally beautiful edifice. That intention shows in the elaborate ornament: extensive sculpture and painting and the hundreds of panes of stained glass executed by G. Owen Bonawit.
Rogers’ plan also included five large reading rooms and two courtyards, one of which is now a music library. You can visit the nave and main reading rooms on guided tours, though the collections are restricted to cardholders. Notice the hundreds of stained glass panes crafted by G. Owen Bonawit, lit above sixteen levels holding more than 4 million volumes.