College of the Atlantic

The College of the Atlantic campus and library officially opened in fall of 1972 after a successful pilot program in summer 1971. The campus had 21 acres of land with more than 1100 feet of shoreline on Frenchman Bay and four buildings that housed all classrooms, administrative offices, the library, the main dining area and kitchens, and dormitory and living areas.

The main administrative building, Kaelber Hall, was a converted summer cottage named for the founding president Edward Kaelber. It was home to the college library that supported the newly developed academic program focused on human ecology. On July 9, 1983, Thorndike Library was named in honor of Robert Amory and Elizabeth Thorndike in recognition of their longtime support of the college and the library.

Early on the morning of July 25, 1983, a fisherman on the town pier spotted flames shooting into the sky above the college campus. Kaelber Hall was on fire. By midday the fire was contained, but Kaelber Hall was destroyed. In addition to faculty offices, Thorndike Library, and the college archives, the loss of the building itself, which had been constructed as a summer cottage in 1874, was a significant loss to the new college. 

The college quickly launched a campaign to rebuild. The town of Bar Harbor leased a vacant secondary school industrial arts building to the college for a dollar a year. It was here, on September 12, 1983, the temporary library reopened with 5,000 volumes.

Book donations from libraries, both local and nationwide, provided the foundation for rebuilding the library collection. Materials sourced from alumni and friends of the college helped rebuild the archival collections.

Designed by architect Daniel Scully, a new Kaelber Hall opened in 1988, with Thorndike Library spanning the entire second level, and the dining hall, kitchen, and student space (now the admissions office) residing on the first level. The Charles and Barbara Tyson Reading Room and the Robert and Ethel Blum Balcony were named to recognize the generosity of these individuals to the college and the reconstruction efforts.