FEBRUARY, 1930

player for boneheaded playing. And yethe seldom failed to make his men feeltheir failures and learn valuable lessonsfrom them .

"Murder, Murder, Murder," was hisfavorite and most repeated exclamationwhen a pet play failed to work or a playermissed a wideopen tackle .When players lagged Bennie often in-

jected himself into the scrimmage. Thenthe fur flew . It seemed every man ofthe opposition became animated with thedesire to stop Bennie and even undresshim in the bargain. They used to throwhim pretty hard and pile up on him .But all he did was grin .

Bennie capped his first season with atriumph over his former team, the "Ter-rible Swedes" from Bethany.There were many students that rainy

Thanksgiving night in Oklahoma Citywho wanted to make much of what isnow called "whoopee ." Saloons were asopen, as warm and almost as well lightedas the modern picture palaces . Most ofus had some extra change in our pocketsas a result of the game .Everyone wanted Bennie to join a rol-

licking parade that proposed to tour brassrailed emporiums. But Bennie knew bet-ter than to get out of character that way.His refusal didn't offend . It simply in-creased the respect of the student bodyfor their new coach."Boys I feel just great the way I am

about the victory this afternoon," saidBennie as he was surrounded in the oldLee hotel lobby. "I don't drink . Youdon't want me with you. I don't blameyou for feeling as you do. If you mustcelebrate try to remember that your con-duct tonight will reflect on your schooljust as the team's conduct reflected on itthis afternoon."The celebration didn't last so long as

it might have . There was much yelling .Sooner yells were given on the streets andmany other college yells were roared outstumblingly from before the long mirrorsbehind the mahogany bars . None missedthe midnight Santa Fe to Norman be-cause of the celebration . Yet all werevery, very happy.TH THROUGH the next twenty-four years,

in season and out, Bennie Owen hascontinued to shape the destiny of Okla-homa athletics and mold by fine examplethe character and manhood of Oklahoma.What the school has achieved in athleticsis due primarily to him and his rare abil-ity to lead the youth of his chosen state.Owen field and the stadium are mag-

nificient physical tribute to Bennie andthe university's growth . But best of allis the Owen spirit that has been impartedto thousands.He has overcome physical disaster met

in a hunting accident and gone on un-daunted to greater victories . Because ofhis character and charm he was privileged

to marry a lovely daughter of Oklahoma .Because of that and the nearly alwaysproper appreciation of his ability by Soon-ers other schools were unable to lure himaway by offers of gold .

Bennie has worked from the first forOklahoma because he loved his businessand knew how to play the game as it has

J. L. RADER, UNIVERSITY

163

been played by few other men anywherein the land .He wasn't a Sooner born but he's truly

a Sooner through the highest order ofsacrificial services to the school and thou-

sands of Oklahomans hope that when he

dies he'll be a Sooner dead .

LIBRARIAN SINCE 1909 .

Realizing his dreamJ. L . Rader has nurtured Oklahoma library

YEARS ago a young mansat in a room lined with a fewpine bookshelves and dreamed a

dream. Today he is watching that dreamcome true in hard brick and stone andmortar . Jesse L. Rader, '08 arts-sc., Uni-versity of Oklahoma librarian who tookcharge of the school's first tiny store ofbooks in 1909, is about to realize a life-time-ambition-the completion of the

By JACK FISCHER, '32

finest college library in western America.A decade of work and hope and worry

has made the new library building athing too close to the heart of the quiet,silvery-haired librarian for much discus-sion .

"It means more to me than I can tryto explain," he said hesitantly . "Almostas much as it will mean to the state andthe university . I scarcely dared hope for

164 THE SOONER MAGAZINE

THE SOONER MAGAZINE PHOTOS BY TRUBY

UPPER LEFT-PAGE FROM OPUS ALBUMAGARIS, 1489 ; UPPER RIGHT-TITLE PAGE FROM FIRST FOLIO OFDAVENANT'S COLLECTED WORKS, 1673 ; LOWER LEFT-COLOPHON FROM LIBER ASTRONOMICUS OF GUIDOBONATUS, 1491 ; LOWER RIGHT-- PORTRAIT OF DAVENANT FROM COLLECTED WORKS.

FEBRUARY, 1930

165

THE SOONER MAGAZINE PHOTOS BY TRUBY

UPPER-READING ROOM OF THE LIBRARY. LOWER-CALL DESK IN THE READING ROOM

FEBRUARY, 1930

such progress when I first took chargeof the one room and 1,000 books whichthen constituted the university library."

For the new building, Mr Rader hasworked out features peculiarly suited tothe students he has served for the pastdecade . A "browsing room" with softleather chairs, a fireplace and book-linedwalls, window nooks and secluded semi-nar rooms are a few of the things de-signed especially to fit the reading habitsof college men and women.

Twenty years' experience at the uni-versity librarian's desk has given MrRader a unique insight into Sooner

read-ng tastes . "Studentsuse remarkablygood and somewhat sophisticated judg-ment in their choice of reading matter,"he said . "They are keenly interested inevery subject under the sun, from survey-ing to sociology, and most of them showa healthy curiosity in their reading. Butthe small but constant demand for super-sophisticated authors, such as Nietzsche,Schopenhauer and Mencken, I think isbased chiefly on the perennial under-graduate desire to pose as an intellectual .

"The steady improvement in studentreading taste has been very noticeable,"he added. "The revolutionary changein Oklahoma's social fabric is of courselargely responsible . Today most of ourcalls are for high grade fiction and stand-ard technical works, instead of the cheapnovels that were once popular.

"On the other hand, many studentsnever use the library except as a place tomeet dates. Indifference and lack oftime cuts their reading to a minimum."

IBRARIAN RADER'S own reading tastesare conservative. He chooses the

older established works, rather than mod-ern novels . Cheerfulness is one of hischief requirements in an author . "Thereis enough gloom in the world withoutgetting more out of books," he declared ."The morbid `problem novels' of todaydon't tempt my appetite .

"Like a bartender who never takes hisown prescriptions, I have never been ableto follow the advice I have been givingto students all my life," Mr Rader said .

"Buy `modern first editions' is a bit ofmy own counsel that I never had theforesight to follow when I was a student.If I had spent a few dollars for first edi-tions of W. H. Hudson or Joseph Conradtwenty years ago, I would be worth afortune now. Usually you can buy `firsts'for the same price as a later printing . Doit . It may pay you big dividends someday.

"Following a systematized readingcourse is another dose of my own medi-

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168

cine I have never been able to swallow.While I urge students to plan their read-ing carefully, my own has always beenrather sporadic and unorganized ."

Book collecting is Mr Rader's onlyhobby. "Bridge and golf don't interestme," he said . "Buying the few good firsteditions I can afford is my chief recrea-tion . I would be a great collector if Ihad the money."

Mr Rader has collected interesting per-sonalities as enthusiastically as he hasrare books. His acquaintance with fa-mous literary men is undoubtedly widerthan that of any other man in Oklahoma .Edward Emerson, internationally knownwar correspondent, soldier and adventur-er, Witter Bynner, noted western poet,and John Cowper Powys, outstandingEnglish writer and author of Wolf Solent,are onlv a few of his friends. Otto VonVohlbehr, famous German collector, notlong ago paid him a visit, bringing tothe university twenty volumes valued atmore than $50,000. "I think I have metevery librarian of importance in America,"Mr . Rader said . "I have made manyacquaintances at meetings of the nationallibrarians' association and through privatevisits."Mr Rader has played no small part in

making many of his former studentsleaders in library work. Carl H. Milam,'07 arts-sc., secretary of the national librar-ians' association, and M. J. Ferguson, '01arts-sc . (M. A., '06), who with a Britishcommission, organized library work inSouth Africa, both are University of Okla-homa graduates who have worked withMr Rader.Mr Rader has a secret ambition that

his 14-year-old daughter, Katherine, mayfollow him in some sort of literary work .She already has accumulated a consider-able library of her own.

"Of course I will let her decide her lifework for herself, but I would be verypleased if my daughter would go intolibrary work," Mr Rader said . Mrs Mary'Frances Rader, to whom he was marriedin 1911, is also an enthusiastic bibliophile,and takes a keen interest in Mr Rader'sprivate collecting .His first book, a documentary source

book of Oklahoma history written in col-laboration with Dr . E. E. Dale, '11 arts-sc ., of the history department, is nowbeing prepared for the publisher. MrRader has also edited two books of playsfor the Harlow publishing firm .The librarian predicts a brilliant future

for the university's baby book plant, theUniversity Press, which will produce itsfirst full-size volumes this winter . "Pub-lishing of scientific and literary workswhich a private publisher cannot affordto put out must be its chief work," hesaid . "A university press has a big place

to fill, and I expect the one here to fill itvery competently."

SOME LIBRARY HISTORYFrom a single room with less than 1,000

volumes to a $500,000 building furnishedwith 105,000 books and equipped tohandle three times that number is a longjourney-yet the University of Oklahomalibrary has made it in a scant seventeenyears.

Destruction by fire in 1903, endowmentwith a $30,000 home by the CarnegieCorporation, and a Wandering-Jew prog-ress from building to building on thecampus has marked the history of theuniversity's book collection . Only fourlibrarians have been appointed since thelibrary's establishment in 1899, and oneof these, Jesse L. Rader, present librarian,has worked in the school's book roomsin various capacities for twenty-six years.Maude Rule, first librarian, was suc-

ceeded in 1902 by Milton J. Ferguson,now California state librarian . Mr Raderfollowed him with a six month's teen asacting librarian in 1908, and after a yearunder J. S. McLucas, the book collectionwas again turned over to Mr Rader, whohas had charge of it ever since. Amongthe small army of student assistants whohave served under Mr Rader, at least two,

ITH Henry Seidel Canby, Dr .Edwin Mims, and three of thenation's leading librarians head

ing the list of speakers, the two-day dedi-cation program of the university's $500,-000 library February 21 and 22 will bethe most pretentious literary event everattempted in the state. Marking the cul-mination of years of aspiration and ef-fort on the part of President W. B. Biz-zell and J. L. Rader, librarian, the formalopening of the new building will giveOklahoma the finest library in the westand one of the best examples of collegearchitecture in the United States .

In an effort to arrange a dedication pro-grain fitting to mark an epoch in Okla-homa's cultural history, university of-ficials have secured a group of the mosteminent literary figures in America.Canby, editor of the Saturday Review of

Literature, chairman of the Book of theMonth club, former professor of Englishat Yale, and the outstanding literary criticof the country, is making a special tripfrom New York .Two University of Oklahoma gradu-

ates who have carved high places forthemselves in the world of books, Milton

THE SOONER MAGAZINE

Carl H. Milam, secretary of the AmericanLibrary Association, and John McClure,Louisiana editor and poet, have attainedfame in the world of books.A laboriously built up library contain-

ing more than 15,000 volumes was winedout by the 1903 fire which destroyed theadministration building, and universityofficials re-established the department with1,000 ill-assorted books in a single cramp-ed room in the new Administration build-ing. The first book purchased for thenew collection, a copy of Tuckerman'sHistory of English Prose Fiction is stillin use on the library's shelves .Completed in December, 1904, the Car-

negie library, is now called the Educationbuilding, is the oldest structure on thecampus . It housed the university's booksuntil the library just vacated was occu-pied in 1920 . Mr Rader blames the moveof 1920 . made in mid-winter with a fewpushcarts for transportation, for the fewsilver hairs over his temples . "Moving30.000 volumes in a week with almost nomechanical facilities was one of the mosttrying jobs I ever attempted," he de-clared .

Constant crowding has been the lot ofthe library ever since its establishment.For the first time officials have space forthe proper storing and use of importanthistorical documents and rare books.

Dedication programCanby among brilliant group to speak

J . Ferguson, '01 arts-sc . (M . A., '06),head of the California state library, andCarl H. Milam, '07 arts-sc., secretary ofthe American Library association willspeak at the opening of new quar-ters for the library they once knew as asingle room lined with pine shelves inthe old Administration building.

A presentation of the building by Gov-ernor W. J. Holloway and acceptance byFrank Buttram, president of the boardof regents, will open the two-day cere-monies . J. Q. Adams, professor of Englishliterature at Cornell, and Frank K . Wal-ter, librarian of the University of Minne-sota, are the other two principal speakersscheduled .Leading newspapermen of the south-

west, including Joe Taylor of the DallasState Press, Walter Harrison of the Okla-

homan, and A. B . McDonald of theKansas City Star, will make informaltalks at a banquet in the McFarl:nchurch on the night of February 21 . In-troduction of guests, among them someof the foremost educators and statesmenwest of the Mississippi, will complete thedinner program.