 Cleveland County, Oklahoma
Miscellaneous
It is nationally significant for its association with the racial desegregation court case of George McLaurin, a black man who was at first denied admission to the University of Oklahoma's law school solely on the basis of race. After a court ruling, he was admitted, but under separate but equal doctrine he was given a desk in the mezzanine of this building, rather than being allowed use of the regular reading room. He appealed the segregation up to the U.S. Supreme Court, in McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education. In this and a companion case, the supreme court ruled against the segregation. This was a precedent for the more famous 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case later. Under George Lynn Cross, the University's seventh president, a 1958 addition effectively tripled the size of the structure. After a generous donation by Doris W. Neustadt, a 1982 addition was completed during the William Banowsky administration. Presently, Bizzell serves as the flagship research library in the state of Oklahoma and of the University's system of eight libraries on the Norman campus that hold a combined 4.2 million volumes. Bizzell also houses the University Libraries administration, History of Science, Nichols Rare Books, Bass Business and Bizzell Bible Special Collections and the University of Oklahoma School of Library and Information Studies. For its association with segregation and the court case overturning it, the building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2001. The University of Oklahoma Library System is a member of the Association of Research Libraries and is the second largest system of libraries in the Big 12 Conference.
The Bavinger House, located in east Norman, was designed by Bruce Goff, and built by an OU Art Professor named Eugene Bavinger. It was built in the 1950’s. Mr. Bavinger and his family lived in the house for 48 years. It is the only Bruce Goff home that has not been redesigned or built onto. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is very interesting, as it has circular rooms, an indoor stream that once had live fish, and a bridge connecting to the outdoors. The stairs and the living areas are suspended from a single column going up through the middle of the building and thru the art studio on the fourth floor.
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The
Bizzell Memorial Library, known also as Bizzell Library,
is located at the University of Oklahoma in
