Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library

The Hatching of Hatcher

Reference Room, Hatcher Library . Photo source

by Esha Nair

This election season Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Pete Buttigieg, like many preceding notable speakers, protesters, and wide-eyed incoming students, were welcomed to campus atop the steps of the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library. While its interior houses millions of volumes and areas for students to study, the classic pillared exterior is a staple of the Diag (Barrett and Fiebelkorn).

I find myself in the basement stacks of the library on most days, ironically even right now as I write this. The low hanging ceilings, exposed pipes, dusty shelves, and classical details along the stairs remind me of a time before my own. Both the library’s name and appearance reflect a period in this university’s history marked by advancement and surprisingly, anti-communist hysteria.

Hatcher Library has added to the University of Michigan's rich history since its construction in 1837 (Barrett and Fiebelkorn). However, the building erected then was very different from what stands today. According to the University Library's Hatcher Showcase website, the old General Library was "the strongest library in the country west of Cornell” (Barrett and Fiebelkorn). This reputation was a bit odd considering it was made almost entirely from wood (making it a fire hazard), accustomed to overcrowding, and had a protocol that separated men's and women's study areas. Due to these flaws, the Board of Regents decided to reconstruct the library in 1911. Eight stories and sixty years later, Harlan Hatcher Graduate Building was finished and named (Barrett and Fiebelkorn).

So who was Harlan Hatcher? Besides being an avid Great Lakes historian and environmentalist, former dean at Ohio State, and author of 17 books, Hatcher was the eighth President of the University of Michigan, holding office from 1951 to 1967 (Honan, “Hatcher, Harlan, 1898-1998”). As President, he oversaw the development of the Flint and Dearborn campuses, the creation of the North Campus, the construction of the undergraduate library, and a doubling in enrollment (Honan). While he was responsible for much of the growth this university underwent, he also dealt with the scandals that were apparent during the time of McCarthyism and Cold War-era communist fears.

The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) was a group of U.S. Representatives that conducted investigations into Communist Activities to stop the infiltration of these ideologies into the West (“House Un-American Activities Committee”). Hearing that several members of the faculty were being investigated by HUAC, Hatcher implemented further investigations to weed out communism from campus. Upon finding that three professors had engaged with the Communist Party in the past, Hatcher had two fired and censured the other. While news coverage of these happenings was high, the reputations of these professors plummeted. Despite the backlash over privacy and freedom of belief, Hatcher responded, saying that “nobody’s freedom has been invaded or abridged at the University of Michigan” (Tobin). However, after all of this, while public opinion of his actions differed, Hatcher was still honored with the naming of this library at the end of his term.

Harlan Hatcher (circa 1962). Photo courtesy snaccooperative.org

Linguistically, according to Ancerstry.com, Hatcher means "someone who live[s] by a gate" and derives from Middle English (“Hatcher Family History”). Staying on theme, Harlan means "dweller by the boundary wood” (“Harlan”). So I guess the question is, which is it? The gate, or the woods. Figuratively we could say both. The Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library provides students with a gateway to resources like the Asia library, collections of physical materials, the Fine Arts library, as well as arrays of maps, films, and more (Honan). The tree-adorned landscape of the Diag, where Hatcher is located, could also qualify the area as woody.

A gate in the woods, Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library is named after a prominent and slightly controversial university figure. It's up to the individual to decide if Hatcher's shortfalls outweighed everything he added to our university. Regardless, Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library is one of the many resource-filled libraries our university gifts us with.

Work Cited

Barrett, Laura, and Jim Fiebelkorn. “Hatcher Showcase.” Graduate Library History and Design, University of Michigan University Library, https://apps.lib.umich.edu/grad/showcase/index.html.

Guignard, Thomas. “Reference Room, Hatcher Library.” Flickr, Yahoo!, 26 June 2019, https://www.flickr.com/photos/timtom/48129542341.

“Harlan.” Name Meaning, Popularity and Info on BabyNames.com, Babynames.com, 2022, https://babynames.com/name/harlan.

Hatcher Family History, Ancestry, 2022, https://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=hatcher#:~:text=English%20(southern)%3A%20topographic%20name,a%20floodgate%20or%20sluice%2Dgate.

“Hatcher Graduate Library.” Arts & Culture, https://arts.umich.edu/museums-cultural-attractions/hatcher-graduate-library/.

“Hatcher, Harlan, 1898-1998.” Hatcher, Harlan, 1898-1998 - Social Networks and Archival Context, https://snaccooperative.org/view/46886032.

Honan, William H. “Harlan Hatcher, 99, U. of Michigan President.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 4 Mar. 1998, https://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/04/us/harlan-hatcher-9 9-u-of-michigan-president.html.

“House Un-American Activities Committee.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2022, https://www.britannica.com/topic/House-Un-American-Activities-Committee.

Tobin, James. “Lost Star.” University of Michigan Heritage Project, https://heritage.umich.edu/stories/lost-star/.

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