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Hooper Wing: The 1910 Addition
The
Library
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A
Sister with students
St. Thomas Aquinas Reading Room
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 he
Library was also known as The St. Thomas Aquinas Reading Room, as
that was where the Thomas Aquinas
Society met. It was called the Blue Room, because of the blue
patterned wallpaper that covered the walls. The library was often
referred to as the Edna Harrison Memorial Library, after a young
student. Edna Harrison died in 1906 at the age of 14, while a pupil
at the school. Her father, Clinton A. Harrison, had been a hotel
owner in Victoria. He endowed the library in her honour, and a picture
of the girl sat, framed, atop one of the bookcases. This portrait
was returned to the family after the closure of the Academy.
Many former students recall that the library was on the second floor,
across from the art studios. This same room was also identified,
by people who had attended the school during a different time period,
as the Grade 12 classroom.
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Reading
Room
1923
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Glass doors
enclosed the book shelves that lined the walls of the Library, and
long tables were set up for reading. If students were chosen to
read aloud before the school, they went to this room to practice;
it was a peaceful place to sit and read. The quiet atmosphere was
intimidating to some of the girls, and they quickly found the books
they were looking for, checked them out with the supervising Sister,
and left.
The subjects of the books on the shelves ranged from science to
history, and included many volumes for religious study. "The
Legion of Decency", a Catholic organization, published a list
of the books and films that were thought to be incorrect reading
and viewing, at times including works that many of the Sisters considered
to be important pieces of literature. Periodically, more conservative
Sisters would cull these books from the stacks, and send them to
the incinerator. Gone With the Wind a well known story, (though
NOT found in the library!) was deemed unsuitable, to the dismay
of student Dorothy Tubman (Galvin) who was reading it at the time,
and had promised it to her friends after she had finished.
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