Falk Library History

Falk Library’s first ancestor, the 1912 medical library, originated in Pennsylvania Hall, the home of the School of Medicine. By 1920, the library grew to two rooms in Pennsylvania Hall: one held books in current use and the other had stacks for older materials.

In 1938, the libraries of the School of Dentistry and School of Medicine were combined and moved to the Old Mellon Institute. By the late 1940s, the Senior Vice Chancellor envisioned a building that would house all the Schools of the Health Professions. A $300,000 donation for a new medical library from the Maurice and Laura Falk Foundation, prompted an anonymous donor to give an additional $3 million in matching funds, thus the beginnings of Falk Library of the Health Sciences.