“Today’s all about celebrating the future of our department, and the future of the endowment that the Cook family so graciously gave to us,” said Don La Barre, special collections librarian. “They believe in what we’re trying to do here, and they really wanted to see this department continue to grow and prosper, and that endowment really does that for us.”

“The special collections here really are special,” said Richard Cook, son of George R. and Edith Angell Cook. “It’s a really unusual, rich resource for a library of this size … It is quite incredible.”

The Cooks grew up in the Hubbard Lake area, La Barre said.

“Their family has a long connection to the early pioneer days, going from the lumber era to the agricultural era,” La Barre said. “So, it’s really fitting that the Cooks came forward.”

News Photo by Darby Hinkley Pictured is the new name on the wall of the department.

Cook’s wife is Terry Lahti, who also attended Wednesday’s unveiling event.

La Barre said the family’s donation allowed the department to buy a new microfilm machine and additional state-of-the-art digitization equipment.

“They really did believe in this area, in family, in history, in the ecology and the economy of the whole place,” Cook said of his parents. “They were modest people that didn’t have a lot, but gave a lot. And that’s one of the reasons I wanted to honor them.”