Construction of the Bata Library began in 1967 and it was officially opened and dedicated by Thomas J. Bata in October, 1969. This beautiful building is the centrepiece of the university campus and reflects in large measure the vision and philosophy of its architect, Ron Thom (1923-1986). While the campus was to be decentralized and comprised of a number of discrete colleges, the library was situated so as to form the focal point, the intellectual heart of the university. Members of the architect's planning team visited libraries at Brandeis, Yale, Harvard and M.I.T. before designing this beautiful Modernist building. The walls of Bata are exposed-aggregate rubble and concrete which Thom saw as matching closely the stone outcroppings of the area. Trent University Archives holds non-current records of the University and also functions as a regional archive preserving private historical records of Peterborough County and the surrounding area. Holdings comprise over 1,100 metres of textual records – family, business, association and institutional papers – as well as 38,000 photographs, maps and other graphic items. In addition, a number of special collections of published materials have been acquired which focus on rare Canadiana.
