Sterling Library plays “key” role in Yale presidential inauguration

An ornate 94-year-old key to Sterling Memorial Library is one of a set of campus keys that will be presented to President Maurie McInnis during her April 6 inauguration as Yale’s 24th president.

The four keys represent “the physical space of campus and the president’s role in safeguarding it,” and the library key also symbolizes that the University was founded with a gift of books, according to a Yale News article about inauguration traditions. The other keys are for Connecticut Hall, the oldest building on campus; Dwight Hall (also known as the Old Library); and the Harkness Tower gate. 

At Sterling Memorial Library’s official opening on April 11, 1931, the key was presented to then Yale President James Rowland Angell. Contemporary newspaper accounts indicate it became part of the inauguration tradition in 1937 with the investiture of Charles Seymour as Yale’s 15th president.

The three older campus keys have relatively simple, rounded tops or  “bows”, but the bow of the Sterling Library key is more elaborate. It features representation of a Gothic style tower  and elements of the University seal, including the motto “Lux et veritas.” 

The key’s steel blade looks functional,  but University Archivist Michael Lotstein could not confirm what door—if any—it was designed to open. In any case, none of these keys will ever hang on anyone’s keyring. In between inaugurations, they are housed securely in the University Archives. The library key has its own velvet-lined box modeled to look like a book with the library’s name and date of dedication emblazoned like a title on the faux spine.

View the Yale News video and read the story, “Objects that represent tradition — and welcome a new generation of leadership.”

—Patricia M. Carey

Images by Dan Renzetti