Hoover Tower at Stanford University

A Stanford University landmark since 1941, the 285-foot-tall, Art Deco-style Hoover Tower provides a contrasting focal point for the horizontal lines of the Quad's sandstone arcades. The Quad, begun in 1887 and designed in Richardsonian Romanesque style, was only partially completed for the first class of students in 1891. One of those students was 17-year-old Herbert Hoover (1874-1964). Hoover graduated in 1895 and began his career in mining. During World War I, he shifted his energies to providing food relief in war-torn Europe. Prior to becoming US president (1929-1933), Hoover had started collecting vast documentation on international relations, global economics, war, revolution, and peace. After the presidency, he built Hoover Tower on his beloved campus to house this growing library collection. Arthur Brown Jr. (1874-1957) designed the library building, which was dedicated to promote peace in the world. Both Alexander Kerensky and later Alexander Solzhenitsyn had offices in Hoover Tower. With its growing collection of research materials, the tower is the architectural focus of a vibrant public policy center that attracts scholars and distinguished public servants such as US secretaries of state George P. Shultz and Condoleezza Rice and has hosted visiting foreign leaders such as Margaret Thatcher and Hu Jintao.

Elena S. Danielson, PhD, MLS, worked as an archivist in the Hoover Institution Library and Archives for 27 years.