Iowa Heritage Digital Collections
State Library of Iowa

Left-sided Angel sculpture designed by Stephen DeStaebler, 1986

Left-sided Angel sculpture designed by Stephen DeStaebler, 1986

Title

Left-sided Angel sculpture designed by Stephen DeStaebler, 1986

Description

The ""Left-sided Angel"", a 465-pound cast bronze sculpture, stands eight feet high on a six foot pedestal outside the entrance to the library. In 1986 Stephen DeStaebler, a Midwest-born artist living in Berkeley, California, created the figure with limbs missing from its right side to symbolize the fragility of the human condition.
The library was first housed in Old Main, which also contained the college's reception room, lecture hall, specimen museum, students' rooms, a chapel, kitchen, laundry, and dining room. An initial purchase of $2,500 for books for the library was made in 1870 by President Welch. The library was moved to Morrill Hall in 1896 and to the Central Building (now Beardshear Hall) in 1913. In 1925, the new library building was completed to house the library's 115,000 volumes under one roof. The new facility was not large enough to allow for adequate expansion and was outgrown within five years. The first addition to the library was completed in 1961, with a second addition completed in 1969 and a third addition was completed in 1983. In 1984, the Iowa State University Library was officially dedicated as the W. Robert and Ellen Sorge Parks Library.

Creator

Iowa State University

Source

RS-4-8-I.Library.259-03-03

Publisher

Iowa State University Library Special Collections: http://www.add.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/index.html

Date

1986
2012-08

Rights

U.S. and international copyright laws protect this digital image. Commercial use or distribution of the image is not permitted without prior permission of the copyright holder. For permission to use the digital image, please contact Iowa State University Library, Special Collections archives@iastate.edu For reproductions see: http://www.add.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/services/photfees.html

Relation

University Photographs; http://www.add.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/collections/images.html

Format

Photograph

Type

Image
Image

Identifier

RS-4-8-I.Library.259-03-03
https://digitalcollections.lib.iastate.edu/