HISTORY
The Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library has served as an intellectual center and cultural treasure for generations of Trojans since it opened on September 12, 1932. Designed by Boston architectural firm Cram and Ferguson and built under the leadership of University President
Rufus B. von KleinSmid, the landmark building was USC’s first freestanding library. Its synthesis of Gothic and Italian Romanesque architectural elements has earned numerous design awards, and its native Californian building materials pay tribute to its regional heritage. The sycamore trees in Alumni Memorial Park provide a shaded canopy during the annual commencement ceremony on the library’s steps. More than 75 years after its doors opened,
Doheny Memorial Library remains a wellspring for scholarship at the university—and one of its most enduring symbols.
Photography: John Livzey
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S E L F - G U I D E D T O U R
A Guide to the Architecture and Spaces of the Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library

GROUND FLOOR
Above the east entrance ( 1 ) , American sculptor Robert Merrell Gage’s bas-relief The
Learners is visible over the inscription, “Wise Men Lay Up Knowledge.” The Younes and Soraya Nazarian Pavilion ( 2 ) and LiteraTea teahouse ( 3 ) are ideal spots for study, lunch, and collaboration.
Inside the building, a hallway leads to the Music Library ( 4 ) , where visitors can find scores, sound recordings, and books related to music history and theory. The groundfloor rotunda ( 5 ) is an exhibition space for the USC Libraries’ public programming— featuring items from USC’s Special Collections—throughout the academic year.
Past the rotunda on the left, the Cinematic Arts Library ( 6 ) houses a collection of films, books, and materials related to movie picture history—as well as the archives of Hollywood studios, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and hundreds of writers, actors, and directors. The Wolper Center ( 7 ) across the hallway houses the archives of producer David L. Wolper and presents exhibitions throughout the year.
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FIRST FLOOR
Statues of William Shakespeare and Dante Alighieri frame the main entrance ( 1 ) . Inside the cast-bronze doors, stairs lead up to the entrance pavilion ( 2 ) , which features stained-glass windows designed by Boston artist Wilbur Herbert Burnham. Across from the stairs are Doheny’s circulation desk and bookstacks entrance ( 3 ) .
The Treasure Room ( 4 ) to the right of the entrance pavilion is an important exhibition space for the USC Libraries. Above the doorway is Santa Barbara artist Samuel
Armstrong’s mural The Written Word Passeth on the Torch of Wisdom.
To the right of the Treasure Room is the periodicals room, while the Los Angeles Times
Reference Room ( 5 ) opens to the left and is home to the USC Libraries Reference Desk, as well as the annual USC Libraries Scripter gala. The room’s gold-and-blue coffered ceiling was designed by Italian émigré artist Giovanni Smeraldi.
To the left of the circulation desk is the Hall of Honor, home to the Top Drawer Society
( 6 ) , which celebrates library supporters and opens into the East Asian Library ( 7 ) . The
East Asian Library’s collections of Chinese-, Japanese-, and Korean-language materials stairs beyond the Hall of Honor lead to the second floor.
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SECOND FLOOR
The USC Academy for Polymathic Study ( 1 ) offers a series of conversational encounters intended to encourage polymathic inquiry. These discussions are anchored in—and structured by—the four quadrants of polymathic practice: critical and integrative thinking, study of the great polymaths, the tapestry of knowledge, and communication.
The Friends of the USC Libraries Lecture Hall ( 2 ) , renovated in 2009, hosts readings, lectures, and other public events throughout the year.
The Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities ( 3 ) is located to the right of the stairs leading to the first floor. Further along the hallway, the Intellectual Commons ( 4 ) , another venue for meetings and symposia, is also a popular spot for studying and informal gatherings.
This room is also home to the Boeckmann Reference Collection.
The hallway continues past librarians’ offices to USC’s Special Collections ( 5 ) , the
Boeckmann Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies, and the Feuchtwanger
Memorial Library. Inside are rare books, manuscripts, and other unique items.
Across the hallway from Special Collections, the Horton Rare Book Reading Room ( 6 ) houses a selection of Lewis Carroll-related materials from the Cassady Collection. USC students and faculty, as well as researchers from around the world, use the room to consult rare materials from Special Collections.
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