"From the outside it looks like a Pepsi-Cola bottling factory. From the inside it looks like Horn & Hardart's automat. But it's pretty as a picture and it works like a charm."

Thus The Crimson introduced its readers to Lamont Library on Jan. 3, 1949, its opening day.

Aside from its modern architecture-which stood out in overwhelmingly traditional Harvard Yard-the library's design was revolutionary in two other ways: It was the first library in the nation specifically for undergraduates, and students were allowed direct access to its stacks.

Open stacks were a true innovation, because the status quo in university libraries like Widener at the time was for students to request a book, then wait for a staff member to find it for them.

From the very beginning, Lamont Library has fielded feedback both good and bad.

Since it was built, the building has seen its share of changes with the admission of women to the library in 1967, changing course requirements and expanded reading lists, the gentrification of its Square surroundings, the advent of computers and an increasingly diverse student body.

But though things change, other things stay the same. This year the library will finally bid goodbye to some of the original chairs, the Sikes "Seats of Knowledge," made in 1948 "especially"-as an advertisement put it-"for Harvard men."

This summer the third floor (i.e., main floor) reading room will be re-carpeted and receive new furniture and lighting in time for undergraduates' return in the fall.

But just as the library makes its first real structural replacements since its grand opening, anniversary festivities have stirred memories to life as Lamont celebrates its 50th birthday.

Laying the Foundation

The library began with a $1.5 million gift from financier-philanthropist Thomas W. Lamont, class of 1892, promised prior to World War II and renewed in September 1945.

Lamont's gift met a pressing need. During the spike in enrollment after the war due to the GI Bill and returning veterans, overcrowding became a serious problem in Widener, especially during exams.

Keyes D. Metcalf, director of the University library from 1937-55, told The New York Times in 1948 how the library would meet undergraduates' needs.

"Undergraduates need a much smaller library, of perhaps 100,000 volumes, made up chiefly of modern, replaceable books, to which they can be admitted without restriction and for which a simplified catalogue is available," Metcalf said.

The library was designed by the Boston architectural firm of Coolidge, Shepley, Bulfinch and Abbott, designers of University buildings including Sever Hall, Memorial Church, the Faculty Club, all the Houses built prior to 1949, many of the Yard dorms, Langdell Law Library and the Biological Laboratories.