NATIONALITY ROOMS

Home Rooms

Communities proud of their heritages have given their city of Pittsburgh something else to celebrate.

Chinese room

THE UNIVERSITY of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning, at 42 stories (535 feet), is the tallest educational building in the Western hemisphere. It is undoubtedly one of the city’s most impressive structures, and, as such, it is an official local and national landmark. But the first and third floors of the Gothic revival cathedral, which began construction in 1926, are what truly set this creation apart from other halls of knowledge. Conceived by the university’s then-chancellor, John G. Bowman and architect Charles Z. Klauder, the 25 working classrooms and two display rooms are individually designed to reflect the ethnic and cultural heritages of the university students and Pittsburgh residents.

Members of different ethnic communities in the city were invited to form committees that oversaw the design and construction of the rooms; the university provided the space only. Some foreign governments lent their support—providing architects, artists, materials and financial assistance—but it was the Pittsburgh locals who really poured their energy into the project and continue to do so today (eight more rooms are planned, starting with the Turkish room). The authenticity and attention to detail are astounding. While these rooms are a delight to visit (tours are available seven days a week except major holidays), the university students who get to study in them are the luckiest ones. Blackboards and fluorescent lighting may get the job done, but imagine earning your degree surrounded by marble pilasters made of stone from the same quarry as that of the Parthenon (in the Greek Room). 412-624-6000;
www.pitt.edu/~natrooms

R. CROSBY KEMPER III

On the Books

Kansas City banker-turned-library director R. Crosby Kemper III knows a thing or two about keeping good records. By Seánan Forbes

Born into a banking family, R. Crosby Kemper III was chairman and CEO of UMB Financial Corp. and UMB Bank until 2004, when he chose to leave banking. Nobody could have predicted that he’d end up as the director of the Kansas City Public Library. “Basically,” Kemper says, “I’ve gone from past-due loans to overdue books.”

Kemper’s second cousin, Jonathan (the chairman of the Kansas City region’s Commerce Bank), is the president of the library’s board of directors, and says that his cousin was the best choice for the job. “He has a great love of activity. He loves books, and he loves ideas, and he’s had experience as a director of a large corporation. He’s also good at fund-raising,” he says.

The funds raised enable the library to reach out to its patrons. According to Jonathan, “The library’s mission is about connecting people,” and his cousin is out to do just that. “We’re running fast to keep up with the community’s interests,” Crosby says. “A library is one of the places that is accomplishing maybe one of our most important social goals, which is to bring people of all religious views, all races together—which we’re doing.”

With a chess club, teen movie afternoons, art exhibitions, lectures and performances, he has made the library just the kind of social setting he’s aiming for. “Twenty years ago, in any urban library, the last group you would have seen were teenagers, especially teenaged males,” Crosby says. “Today, we have lots of all of [them] in the library. It’s where you go to achieve knowledge, and some of that knowledge is achieved through interactions in a community setting.”

What’s given him the greatest joy? “There’s not just one thing. The two at the top of his list: “We’ve just renovated the children’s library, and children are our most important patrons. The other is our level of programming. I think we’re creating the best public library programming in America,” Crosby says.

With approximately 2.5 million annual visitors to the area’s libraries and more than 10 million to the Web site, one thing is clear: According to the people of Kansas City, R. Crosby Kemper III has finally found the right career.
www.kclibrary.org