Friends of the Libraries

The Friends of the Sheridan Libraries help provide resources for scholars and supported programming designed to engage, enlighten, and inspire the Hopkins and Baltimore communities.

Annual Giving Levels

Membership benefits are cumulative: Members are entitled to all the benefits of their specific group as well as those of all the groups below that giving level.

Friends Advisory Council

The Friends of the Libraries group is led by the Friends Advisory Council (FAC), whose members serve as advocates for the Sheridan Libraries by acquainting the community at large with the Libraries’ mission, resources, and needs. They raise philanthropic support for the advancement of the Libraries, including the acquisition and conservation of research collections, exhibition openings, book talks, an online speaker series, and other programming.

Susan Adams
Bailey Eisen, A&S ’11
Linda Feldmann, A&S ’88
William Feustle, A&S ’79, Ed ’89 (MS)
Ronald Geesey
Peter Goodrich, A&S ’73
Caroline Griffin
Meg Heisse
Cindy Kelly, A&S ’75 (MA), Alumni Parent
John Mayden
Clare Miller, Council Chair
Brooke Murdock

Marc Norman, A&S ’90
Holly Phelps, A&S ’74
Susan Schuster, A&S ’76
Michael Siegel, A&S ’74
Brian Sullam, A&S ’71
Raquel Silverberg, Eng ’92
Daun Van Ee, A&S ’74 (PhD)
Christina Von Risenfelder, A&S ’93
Robert Wells, A&S ’82
Cara Whitehead, A&S ’86
James Williams
Anne Wyatt-Brown, A&S ’82 (MAT)

Friends of the Libraries History

On March 5, 1931, in Gilman Hall, the Friends of the Johns Hopkins University Libraries was established. This group, founded at the request of President Joseph Ames and following the example set at Oxford’s Bodleian Library by Sir William Osler, was created to provide financial support for the university library, particularly for acquisitions.

If it seems odd that the Friends’ birth should come more than 50 years after the university’s founding, consider that the original library used by the university was the George Peabody Library. Its significant collections (some 60,000 volumes in its early years) and proximity to the university—then located in downtown Baltimore—made it a perfect resource for the new university. Indeed, the first appropriation for books was only $5,000 as there was no need to purchase materials that would duplicate the Peabody’s substantial holdings.

Forty years later, when the university moved to its current location on the Homewood campus, it became clear that having a library some two miles distant from campus was not the best arrangement for faculty and students. The university’s library had grown, through department holdings, to nearly 200,000 volumes, but the collection was hardly comprehensive (Ames called it “spotty”) and in need of support.

Enter the Friends of the Libraries, whose first executive committee contained names that will be familiar to Hopkins alumni and students today, including Frank J. Goodnow, Hopkins’ third president; Albert D. Hutzler, for whom the “The Hut” reading room is named; and William H. Welch, one of the “Big Four” of Hopkins Medicine and namesake of the medical library.

Founding president Henry Barton Jacobs, writing on the front page of the first issue of ex Libris, stated the group’s aims: “an association of persons who take a friendly interest in the general Library of The Johns Hopkins University” that would be committed to discussing books, using the library, and providing annual dues to “make possible the purchase of such books as could not have been bought out of the Library’s current funds.”

Since that time, the Friends of the Libraries has grown from a small gathering of local book enthusiasts and collectors to a national group comprising alumni, parents (and grandparents) of alumni, faculty, staff, and others who are committed to keeping the Johns Hopkins Sheridan Libraries vibrant.

With nearly 700 members across the country, the Friends provide support for acquisitions and conservation, exhibitions and programming, and resources to help Hopkins scholars stay ahead in a research landscape that is constantly changing.