University Library - Missituk Campus
The finest jewel in Missituk’s crown, the Jeremiah Orne Library stands at the corner of South Garrison and West College streets, on the university campus. The massive, three-storied gothic building was built out of native granite in 1878, replacing an earlier and much smaller wooden building. Holding just over 400,000 volumes, the Orne Library cannot compete with institutions in nearby Cambridge and Boston, either in numbers of volumes or in breadth of collections. Missituk’s library is, however, renowned for its collections of New England histories, letters, and documents, many of which date back to the witch hysteria in Salem. The library is also famous (some might say infamous) for its collection of rare works of occult and magical philosophy, surpassed only by the oldest institutions in Europe.
The University keeps to an old and strange tradition of always having a large Mastiff dog that is kept chained near the front steps and stands guard at night. Generally thought of as a beloved mascot, few even ask how the strange tradition started. Currently the Library Mastiff is Augustus, a fine, aging fellow who loves to bask in the sun and watch all the young students come and go. Besides Augustus the University also has an expensive electric burglar alarm system installed in the building.
The heavy outer doors open upon a dim, arched lobby. Faded frescoes decorate the ceiling. The walls bear portraits of prominent figures from New Jerusalem and Missituk’s history. Marble busts of literary giants stand at intervals on pedestals: Thoreau, Washington Irving, Emerson, Longfellow, Whittier, James Russell Lowell, Shakespeare, Milton, and even stern, scowling Cotton Mather are present.
Within, the marble halls of the library are cold, quiet, and drafty, but the massive skylight and tall, arched windows admit ample light. The carpets and furnishings are well maintained. Many students come here to finish their assignments away from the noisy bustle of campus dormitories. The church-like architecture of the building, down to the stained-glass panels in some of the windows, has earned the library the nickname “St. Henry’s” from Missituk’s students and faculty alike, after the library’s most famous director, the late Dr. Henry Wantage.
The current director of the library is Dr. Jonathan Worthman, A.M., Missituk; Ph.D., Princeton; Litt. D., Cambridge. Worthman is 63, white-bearded, and lives with his wife, Ellen, in their home at 417 W Missituk Avenue. He has directed the library since 1940 and knows a good deal of its secrets.
Although long its caretaker, Worthman did not realize the significance of The Booke of the Wisdom of the Stars (Kitab Al-Hikmah Al-Najmiyya) until after he met Dr. Henry ‘Hank’ Wantage, the former director and protector of the library who died in 1938 while trying to save the Rare Book collection from a fire which consumed a good deal of the library’s upper levels. Wantage told and showed Worthman evidence about the book and the strange occurrences in Athol involving the Wheatley family.
Dr. Wilfred Llanfer, Assistant Director of Collections, helps Dr. Worthman fulfill his duties. A quiet, fastidious man, Llanfer has shouldered more and more of Worthman’s administrative duties as the director’s health has worsened. Although he helps Worthman organize and keep the Restricted Collection up, Llanfer has no knowledge of the mythos at all. The assistant director sees Worthman’s efforts as sensible security.
Mrs. Diane Long, Head Reference Librarian, handles much of the day-to-day business of the library. She has frequent contact with the students, since her knowledge of reference room materials and her talent for unraveling thorny research dilemmas are held peerless, earning admiration from upperclassmen, graduate students, and faculty alike.
Four assistant librarians (most of them women) also work at the Orne, along with students who hold part-time jobs to help with shelving. A senior cataloguer and an expert bookbinder manage more students. Student interns can expect to work between twelve and twenty hours a week, earning about $80 a month.
The library is open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Friday, and on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. On Sundays only the reference room is open, from 1-6 p.m.; consequently, no book can be checked out on Sundays. On that day, one assistant librarian is on duty.
During the week prior to final exams the library’s hours are extended to midnight. The evening staff (this includes most student interns) begins duty at 5 p.m. and usually work until about 10 p.m., shelving and tidying up. The night janitor starts making his rounds at closing and is finished by midnight. All undergraduates are required to leave at closing, although professors and graduate students may stay longer. Graduate students frequently spend the entire night in the library, scrambling to finish papers or theses.
Dr. Worthman and the senior library staff (not including student interns) have keys to the building, as do tenured professors whose researches require library access. Library keys are occasionally given or loaned to non-staff scholars trusted by Worthman, but this is done very rarely. Students who need after-hours access and who are in the know can enter the stacks through the tunnels that lead to the basement. The ominous nature of the tunnels and the gloom of the library at night ensure that such adventures are never undertaken lightly.
The major book holdings are contained on the upper floors of the building.
General holdings in the Orne Library include a large collection of reference books, including several new sets of encyclopedias. The basement of the library is home to the Pitman Collection, a vast repository of books, diaries, journals, letters, biographies, and genealogical data from all over New England, dating back beyond the Salem Witch trials. This trove of early colonial data is one of the finest in existence and frequently draws scholars and historians to study its contents.
Bound periodicals and University records are also stored in the basement.
The library has near-complete collections of the New Jerusalem Journal and the New Jerusalem Advertiser, and the latter’s predecessors. The disastrous Missituk flood of 1888 destroyed portions of this collection, including the New Jerusalem Journal, 1845-1858 and 1864-1868; the New Jerusalem Advertiser for the years 1851-1863; the New Jerusalem Bulletin 1823-1826; and the Missituk Valley Gleaner for the years 1830-1831. There are also bound volumes of the Aylesbury Transcript (1844-present), the Innsmouth Courier (1833-1846, lacking the final issue), and the Newburyport Correspondent (1839-present).
In the basement, behind a heavy steel door, lies The Restricted Collection, which contains the bulk of the Mythos holdings in the library, but not all by any means.
Wantage shared his secrets with only a few but was actively pursuing knowledge about the Mythos. He restricted access to The Booke of the Wisdom of the Stars (as well as other books). Since coming into this knowledge Worthman has compared his experiences with those of others, and he justifiably fears any strangers who wish to see this book.
In the anthropology section is the complete original 12-volume edition of Frazer's The Golden Bough and Witch-Cults in Western Europe. Justin Geoffrey's People of the Monolith and Andrew Darby's Azalathoth and Others can be found with other American poets.
The catalog lists Thaumaturgical Prodigies in the New-English Canaan, but the copy has been misplaced and cannot be located. Worthman is presently trying to track it down, and if he finds it, he will place it in the upstairs vault and add it to the restricted list.
Other mythos titles discovered by Worthman have been pulled from the shelves and are presently in the vault. He has systematically gleaned the library in search of these items and has placed most of them on the restricted list. "Restricted" means that Worthman must personally approve the reader who is to study or handle the listed book and that the book must be read under the watchful eye of a trustworthy staff member.
Prior to the Athol occurrences the library already possessed one of the five known copies of The Booke of the Wisdom of the Stars, as well as a fabulously rare original edition of the Unausprechlichen Kulten and a slightly worn copy of the Book of Eibon. With permission of Wheatley family heirs, Wantage took possession of Willard Wheatley's library. It included a ragged John Dee translation of The Booke of the Wisdom of the Stars, a copy of the Pnakotic Manuscripts, and the Latin Liber Ivonis, along with several other volumes. Willard Wheatley's diary, which Wantage once vowed to burn, was still in his possession when he died. Worthman keeps it locked in his desk drawer along with Wantage's decoding notes and translations. Worthman continues Wantage's work on the translation of the diary; he allows no one to read these notes.
At a high price, Wantage acquired a copy of the Cultes des Goules. Dr. Worthman is currently bargaining with a strange correspondent in France for a copy of De Vermiis Mysteriis, which appears to have survived the last war.
The Eltdown Shards, a questionable translation of strange markings found on clay shards discovered in southern England, published in 1913, has also been restricted.
Material Still Unrestricted: Dr. Worthman has not identified some pamphlets and reports pertinent to the mythos.
There is a copy of the very rare Eli Davenport monograph of 1839, a collection of old folk and Indian legends regarding the activities of strange flying beings in New England.
A transcript exists of a sermon preached in Pequoiag (later named Athol) in 1747 by the Rev. Abijah Hoadley (grandson of Alijah Hoadley ). The pastor railed against the well-known rumblings in the ground, claiming them to be the work of the devil. (Reverend Hoadley disappeared soon after delivering the sermon.)
An 1882 report made by Missituk professors regarding the meteorite that fell on the Forester farm that year draws no conclusions but lists alarming evidence.
In 1902 the University conducted a ground survey in the Athol area attempting to explain the strange ground rumblings that have been heard in the area for centuries.
Recent and current copies of the Journal of the American Psychological Society contain articles written by Professor Paisley of the Economics department, written about his strange amnesia and the odd dreams that he subsequently suffered.
Special Orne Library Legends and Locations
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