THE LIBRARY OF UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, DUNDEE: ITS HISTORY, 1883–1953

When, through the munificence of Miss Mary Anne Baxter of Balgavies, a college for the study of science, literature, and the fine arts was established in the jute‐manufacturing city of Dundee in 1883, the need to establish a library was not given any great priority. During the first fifteen years of University College's history the library was mainly a group of departmental collections of books and periodicals, and it grew by the accretion of small gifts and as the product of limited funds. The College Principal resorted to the expedient of encouraging would‐be Governors of the College (who became such by virtue of an annual subscription of £5) to direct that their subscription be applied to library extension. His appeals for ‘some munificent gift from a local source’ went largely unheeded until, in the session 1890–1, the Dundee Town Council made a grant of £500 to develop a library in Anatomy and Physiology. Local interest in establishing a Medical School was strong, and a private subscription library, the Dundee Medical Library, was deposited in Anatomy Department and later absorbed into the stock of the college library.