William Morley Tweedie Annex
1960 - 1970
1960 - 1970
Construction of the Memorial Library’s new William Morley Tweedie Annex began during the fall of 1959. The Annex was designed by the architectural firm of C. A. Fowler & Co., and built by Parsons Construction Ltd., Moncton, NB.
Marion Ashe, who worked in the Circulation Department at the time, described the effect construction had on operations in the Memorial Library:
“…this meant all books from the different rooms downstairs and the furniture from the Mary Mellish reading room had to be moved to the main floor lobby. The end wall was removed, a bit of torture, with plaster dust, the deafening noise of drills, dampness and cold. At times we took inventory with snow boots and coats and perhaps gloves. The books there grew little fur coats from dampness; some looked like little kittens instead of books.”1
The official opening took place on 13 August 1960. Dr. N. T. Avard, Chair of the Board of Regents, presided. The speaker was Dr. David A. Jonah, Mount Allison graduate and Librarian at Brown University. Once the keys were presented, the ribbon cut by Dr. F. W. W. DesBarres, and the doors opened, tours were carried out for those assembled and a reception held in one of the new reading rooms. A display of songs, ballads and broadsides from the Mary Mellish Archibald collection was mounted in new cases.
Through a gift received from the Canada Council, Mount Allison commissioned artist Anne Kahane to design a sculpture that was placed on the building in 1961.
1 Mount Allison Archives, Accession 0134
Tweedie Annex
under construction
1959
Mount Allison Archives, Picture Collection, 2007.07/847
Tweedie Annex completed
1960
Mount Allison Archives, Picture Collection, 2007.07/851
Opening ceremony
Tweedie Annex
l-r: D. Jonah, J. F. Parsons,
F. W. W. DesBarres,
J. P. Hagan, and Laurie Allison
August, 1960
Mount Allison Archives, Picture Collection, 2007.07/1168
