Designed by architect Albert Irvin Cassell, construction began in 1937 during the presidency of Mordecai Wyatt Johnson.

The second library built for the university, the cornerstone was laid on June 10, 1937, and the building was opened for service on January 3, 1939.

The library houses over 1 million volumes, the Channing Pollock Theater Collection, and is the home to the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center.

Carter G. Woodson, Nannie Helen Burroughs, Georgia Douglas Johnson, Mary McLeod Bethune and Mary Church Terrell, were a few of the residents who during their time, helped create the center of black intellectual life in Washington, D.C. Planning Process Discussions related to building a state of the art library on the campus of Howard University began in 1929.

It is upon their resources that we largely depend for knowing and understand the past; it is by their help that we may undertake to absorb the knowledge and develop the intellectual habits necessary for effective participation in the democratic way of life; and it is mainly through them that we hope to be able to project our own contributions into and influence the future.

[1]The Founders Library is a Georgian style, red brick building with a clock tower visible throughout Washington, D.C.

A contemporary account by one of the leading architects in Albert Cassell's firm makes clear how the project began: The university was fairly specific.

The sound proofed walls and ceilings enable readers to talk in one corner of the room without being heard in the other.

The browsing room is fitted with cream colored monk's cloth drapes, Spanish leather easy chairs and couches and Axminster rugs that cost $1,000 each.

The collection contains the playwright's published works, manuscripts, and personal correspondence with celebrities of his day.

It also includes photographs, programs, broadsides, sheet music representing different phases of the theatrical and entertainment world, and extensive original clippings files that provide an historical sketch of the role and place of Black performers on the American stage, in movies, and on television.

It housed Howard University's School of Law during the 1930s-1950s, many of the major achievements of that department's faculty were completed in the building.

Founders serves Howard students and general public; Visitors must present their photo ID to the librarian receptionist.