President Mun Choi, Provost Steven J. Berberich, Missouri Sen. Brian Williams, alumni and supporters Terry and Stan Freerks and members of the University of Missouri Board of Curators gather around Chancellor Kristin Sobolik as she rings a bell from the St. Louis Mercantile Library collection to mark the official reopening of University Libraries after the completion of a $12.1 million renovation project. (Photos by Derik Holtmann)
More than 100 friends and supporters of the University of Missouri–St. Louis, including University of Missouri President Mun Choi and members of the Board of Curators, gathered Wednesday evening to mark the official opening of the newly renovated Thomas Jefferson and St. Louis Mercantile Libraries.
Those in attendance had a chance to tour the gleaming and modern spaces, from the welcoming front desk, computer lab and group and individual study rooms to the Mercantile’s new Wallace H. Smith Gallery of Art.
Christopher Dames (at right), UMSL’s dean of libraries, speaks to guests while standing in the library’s new central corridor during a reception on Wednesday evening.
“The modernized space and technology we celebrate today will support new ways of learning, engaging in research and collaboration, empowering students, faculty and scholars to connect across disciplines,” Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Steven J. Berberich said during welcoming remarks. “For the broader St. Louis community, these libraries stand as a welcoming hub of knowledge, innovation and opportunity, reflecting UMSL’s role as an anchor for education and progress in the region.”
The $12.1 million, 65,000-square-foot renovation – including a new north entrance that connects to the Quad – is a central piece of the $110 million Transform UMSL initiative to remake the campus to serve students for generations to come.
Perhaps no one in the audience was better positioned to realize the significance of that future more than Curator Robert D. Blitz, whose understanding of the university’s past stretches back even before UMSL’s founding in 1963.
Curator Robert D. Blitz speaks about the early history of UMSL during an event to mark the reopening of the newly renovated University Libraries. Blitz’s father, Morris Blitz, was a member of the Committee of 28 that was instrumental in the university’s founding.
In 1959, when Blitz was 10 years old, residents and administrators of the Normandy School District formed a committee – eventually known as the Committee of 28 – tasked with developing the first publicly supported higher education institution in the St. Louis region on the grounds of the old Bellerive Country Club. What was first conceived as a junior college would, by 1963, become a four-year institution that was part of the newly formed University of Missouri System.
Blitz’s father, the late Morris Blitz – who would later become the school district’s superintendent – served on that committee.
“The Committee of 28 purchased all the property that you now have UMSL on for a total of $650,000 by passing a bond issue in the Normandy School District, which passed by eight votes,” Blitz said in providing a brief history lesson to attendees on Wednesday evening. “Otherwise, I don’t know that we would have this today.”
Julie Dunn-Morton, the curator of fine art collections at the St. Louis Mercantile Library, leads University of Missouri President Mun Choi on a tour of the new Wallace H. Smith Gallery of Art. The gallery’s inaugural exhibit highlights the work and influence of artist Frederick Oakes Sylvester.
He recalled that UMSL’s original library was housed in Bellerive’s former clubhouse, at the time the only building on the university’s campus. Some early classes had to be held in storefronts that once held restaurants and a laundry mat along Natural Bridge Road.
Blitz, a founding member of the law firm of Blitz, Bardgett & Deutsch, L.C., recalled taking classes at UMSL in the summer of 1968 and later taught at the university. He has been a supporter and donor in the years since, and he marveled at what it has become as a driver of workforce development, offering a range of degree and certificate offerings – including education, nursing, cybersecurity, geographic information systems and engineering – that are in demand throughout the St. Louis region.
“From a rundown country club clubhouse and laundromats to what you see around you now is quite a journey,” Blitz said. “It’s my hope – and I’m sure it’ll occur because UMSL has a great culture and all the ingredients – that it will continue this trajectory in the same vein.”
John Neal Hoover (at left), the executive director of the St. Louis Mercantile Library Association, speaks with Vice Chancellors Tanika Busch and Tanisha Stevens in the newly created sculpture hall.
University Libraries are and will remain central to the university’s future, which is why it was important to invest in upgrading them.
That would not have been possible without support from the state of Missouri, which has directed $80 million in public funding through the American Rescue Plan Act toward UMSL’s ongoing campus transformation, including the libraries. Missouri Sen. Brian Williams was a strong advocate for the university receiving that money and was one of several other speakers at Wednesday’s event.
“Today, we’re celebrating just how much we can achieve by working together for a common goal,” Williams said. “The center of academic vitality for the UMSL campus represents the university’s commitment to the St. Louis region as the region’s only tier one public research institution and the leading educator of professional workforce.”
A visitor inspects a piece of art from the St. Louis Mercantile Library collection now hanging in one of the newly created individual study rooms in the Thomas Jefferson Library.
Donor contributions were also critical to the library renovations, and alums Terry and Stan Freerks were among the biggest supporters who helped turn aspirations into reality.
“Meeting today in this space is very special for Stan and me,” said Terry Freerks, a licensed professional counselor who holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UMSL and serves on the Chancellor’s Council. “We both spent many days and nights studying in an earlier version, and maybe the earliest version, of this lovely building. As younger adults, Stan and I utilized the library holdings to get good grades, but now as older adults, we realize that the library actually provides lasting insights and promotes lifelong learning.”
Stan Freerks, who earned his MBA at UMSL, has particular affection for the 179-year-old St. Louis Mercantile Library and its collections focused on Missouri history. He currently serves as a member of the library’s executive board as well as a volunteer curator of miscellaneous collections such as stamps, coins and baseball cards.
Attendees of Wednesday’s reception converse with each other in the Thomas Jefferson Library’s new computer lab.
“What I find so invigorating about this beautiful, newly renovated library is the combination of a cutting-edge facility with a historic and nationally and internationally renowned Mercantile Library,” he said. “Students find themselves surrounded by art, manuscripts, maps, historical documents and memorabilia of our region’s history collected, preserved and beautifully displayed throughout this incredible building. This wonderful combination of the library at the newest of the University of Missouri System’s campuses, established in 1963, and the oldest library west of the Mississippi River, established in 1846, creates an environment where students can take pride in their past and as they plan out their future.”
Chancellor Kristin Sobolik had the honor of officially opening the newly renovated libraries with a ceremonial bell ringing. The Freerkses, Williams, Berberich, Choi, Blitz and the other members of the Board of Curators gathered around her as she pulled on the chord to sound the bell, which was borrowed from the Mercantile Library’s collection for the occasion.
“This bell once sounded aboard a historic motor vessel that traveled the Mississippi River, a vital artery of commerce and connection for our region,” Sobolik said. “Today, it will ring again to celebrate UMSL’s continuing journey, driving economic growth, preparing the region’s workforce and opening new opportunities for discovery and success.”
