Sunday October 27th was Owen D Young’s 150th birthday. On the 27th there was a celebration of this milestone at the Owen D Young Central School in Young’s hometown of Van Hornesville New York, and the event paid particular attention to Young’s lifelong engagement with the major issues of educating the American Public. His contributions include leading the Commission to establish the system of the State University of New York (SUNY). Dr. Keith Landa, a member of the SUNY Board of Trustees, will speak to the historical significance of Young’s legacy. Special Collections Librarian Paul Doty attended to give a St. Lawrence perspective, and to speak to Young’s accomplishments, and his bibliographic interests.
Owen D Young was part of St. Lawrence’s class of 1894 and served St. Lawrence as the Chair of the Board of Trustees from 1924-1934. Young was a frequent speaker at St. Lawrence commencements and other university events, and was a key player in many fundraising endeavors in the first half of the twentieth century.
That the main library is named for Young reflects his life of work for St. Lawrence, but it also reflects Young’s love of books. In the first three decades of the twentieth century Young acquired one of the finest private libraries in the United States, which included rare editions of Dante’s Divine Comedy, Shakespeare’s plays, John Donne’s poems, William Blake, Lord Byron, Edgar Allen Poe, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning to name but seven. Of his book collection, his daughter, Josephine Young Case, wrote “…he knew his books and manuscripts and handled them with understanding and affection. To him they were never things, or merely trophies of the hunt; each was a voice that spoke to him.” So, on or about the 27th why not come over to the library that bears his name and see who on the shelves calls out to you.