“It doesn’t have that old book smell.”
That was one of the first details Mary Catherine Dunnigan noticed as she entered the University of Virginia’s Shannon Library for the first time in decades earlier this month. Dunnigan, who recently turned 103, chose to celebrate her birthday by returning to the University, where she spent years working as a librarian and director of the Fiske Kimball Fine Arts Library. She began working there more than 50 years ago, in 1973.
Since Dunnigan retired in 1987, the University has seen a host of changes: growth in the student population, an increase in women’s enrollment and, most relevant for Dunnigan, the recent renovation and renaming of UVA’s main library – which explains the missing old-book smell she noticed.
Dunnigan poses for a portrait in the Shannon stacks. When Dunnigan was a UVA employee, the stacks were dark and crowded. (Photo by Matt Riley, University Communications)
After meeting a nurse who knew Dunnigan, University Librarian and Dean of the Library John Unsworth extended an invitation to Dunnigan to tour Shannon, which celebrated its grand reopening just over a year ago. He offered a few dates and times to meet her and show her the library, and Dunnigan knew she had to choose May 9, just a couple of days after her 103rd birthday.
Dunnigan was joined by friend and neighbor Marie Trotter, who met Dunnigan during the pandemic. Trotter was walking her dog when she noticed Dunnigan up on a ladder cleaning out her gutters.
“She’s just incredibly independent,” Trotter said.
Dunnigan graduated from Mary Washington College, which at the time was the University’s women’s college (in 1972, it was reorganized as a separate, coeducational institution, later renaming itself the University of Mary Washington). She worked as a librarian for the United States Brewers’ Association before returning to Virginia. At the time of her hiring, the female student population was significantly lower than that of the male student body.
