Editing Widener Library (section)

===<span id="memorial rooms"></span>Widener Memorial Rooms===

The central Memorial Rooms{{mdashb}}<!--<<formal name?-->an outer rotunda{{r|rotunda}} housing memorabilia of the life and death of Harry Widener,{{r|HEW_history}} and an inner library displaying the 3300 rare books collected by him{{mdashb}}were described by the ''[[Boston Herald|Boston Sunday Herald]]'' soon after the dedication:
{{blockquote|The [rotunda] is of [[Alabama marble]] except the domed ceiling, with fluted columns and [[Capital (architecture)#ionic capital|Ionic capitals]] [while the library] is finished in carved [[Quercus robur|English oak]], the carving having been done in England; the high bookcases are fitted with glass shelves and bronze sashes, the windows are hung with heavy curtains<!--, and in glass-covered cases under them are arranged some examples of the auto{{shy}}graphed presenta{{shy}}tion volumes which came to Mr. Widener. Handsome chairs and desk make the furnish{{shy}}ings here, and--> [and] upon the desks are vases filled with flowers.<!-- Flowers will always be a part of the furnish{{shy}}ings of this room, as the donor{{nbsp}}... has arranged that they shall be supplied at regular intervals.-->

The big marble fireplace and the portrait of Harry Widener occupy a large portion of the south wall. Standing front of the fireplace one may look through the vista made by the doorways, the staircases within and the stairs without and get a glimpse of the green campus.{{NoteTag
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Trumbauer "had no rivals when it came to tempting clients to spend immodest sums", wrote Wayne Andrews,{{r|bentinck1980|p=16}}
and Biel wrote that he had "made his name and fortune by knowing that 'only a magnifi{{shy}}cent setting could hope to satisfy an American with a magnifi{{shy}}cent income,'<!--<<who is being quoted here?--> and he had already imparted such magnifi{{shy}}cence to the Widener and Elkins mansions and an assortment of other palaces{{nbsp}}... [He] knew who his client was, so he gave elaborate attention to memorial{{shy}}izing Harry in style" in the Memorial Rooms.{{r|canoe|p=89}}
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Conversely, "even from the very entrance [of the building] one will catch a glimpse in the distance of the portrait of young Harry Widener<!--get img--> on the further wall [of the Memorial Rooms], if the intervening doors happen to be open."{{hsp}}{{r|lane_libj|p=325}}

For many years Eleanor Widener hosted Commencement Day luncheons in the Memorial Rooms.{{r|bentinck1980|p=20}}
The family underwrites their upkeep,{{r|halberstam}}
including weekly renewal of the flowers{{r|ask_flowers}}{{mdashb}}originally roses but now carnations.{{NoteTag
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From the start it was Eleanor Widener's particular instruction that there always be flowers in the Memorial Room,{{r|browse}} and in March 1916 she reminded [[George Parker Winship]], curator of the Widener Collection (who at the time used the Memorial Room as his office): "Will you please see that at all times fresh flowers are kept on your table by the photograph of my dear son Harry, the same to be paid out of funds set aside for the maintenance of the Memorial Room. This is the only request I make, and I beg of you to see that it is always carried out."{{hsp}}{{ran|B|p=43}}
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