Kansas City Room

The Kansas City Room is on the second floor of the old wing of the library. It houses some of the library’s Special Collections, and is available as a meeting room and classroom.  

R. Crosby Kemper, P. A. 1945, and Richard J. Stern, P. A. 1930, generously donated the funds  for renovations to the room during the 1980s. Both of these men were from Missouri, and chose to honor their roots by giving the room its name. On the walls of the room hang portraits of Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., Charles Henry Forbes, and Jedediah Morse, with his young son, Sammy. Holmes is the man for whom the library is named. Forbes was a classics teacher and donated a large collection of books by the Latin poet Vergil. Morse was a trustee and sent Sammy to school here. Sammy grew up to invent the telegraph and become a painter. Morse Hall is named for him and a portrait of him in his adult years hangs there.