Happy Birthday, Archibald Alexander!

The Archibald S. Alexander Library, located on Rutgers’ College Avenue campus, is the oldest and largest of the Rutgers University libraries. It is the main social sciences and humanities library in New Brunswick and home to Special Collections and University Archives, the East Asian Library, the Digital Learning Commons, and the Hatchery Innovation Studio.

The library is named after Archibald Stevens Alexander, who was born on this day in 1906. Alexander was a distinguished lawyer, civil servant, and politician. He received a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University in 1928 and a law degree from Harvard in 1931. During World War II, Alexander served in the U.S. Army, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was Assistant Secretary of the Army from 1949 to 1950 and Under Secretary from 1950 to 1952. From 1954 to 1955, he served as Treasurer of the State of New Jersey.

Alexander devoted much of his time to public service and held several posts in associations and educational institutions. Alexander’s long involvement with Rutgers University began in 1954 when he became a Public Trustee by virtue of his appointment as State Treasurer. He resigned as a Trustee in late 1955, but was appointed to the newly created Board of Governors and rejoined the Board of Trustees in 1956. Alexander served on the Board of Governors and the Board of Trustees until 1973. He was chair of the Board of Governors from 1959 to 1963 and again from 1971 to 1973. Alexander was a member of the Rutgers University Foundation Board of Overseers and president of the Friends of the Rutgers University Libraries from 1975 until his death. In 1973, the Board of Governors named the central university library in his honor.