Lilly’s Loebs and the Legacy of Professor “Billy” Gill

This room is the student’s workshop.
This is the Socratean basket in which he is lifted from the business world.
Professor William Francis Gill (T 1894), on libraries.

The Gill Endowment

The single endowment for collections in Classical Studies for the Duke University Libraries was created in memory of Latin Professor William “Billy” Francis Gill in December 1917. Native to Henderson, North Carolina, Professor Gill graduated from Trinity College in 1894, and completed his graduate work at Johns Hopkins University in 1898. He returned to Trinity to teach until his untimely death in October of 1917. He established Duke’s Classical Club in 1910. Materials in the Duke University Archives, and Johns Hopkins University Archives, offer glimpses of the life, personality, and scholarship of Professor Gill, in a separate blog post: Professor of Latin, William Francis Gill (T 1894) .

Lilly’s Loeb Classics Collection

Greek Loeb Classics on the Move

The Loeb Classics are facing editions in Latin and Greek, with 560 volumes in a complete set. Over the last 100 years, Duke University Libraries have collected duplicate, triplicate and in some cases five or six copies of each author, with several thousand copies currently in the University’s Libraries. Lilly’s Loebs duplicate two complete collections in Perkins Library, many editions in the Divinity School Library, as well as the online Loeb Classical Library. There is another collection at Duke’s Kunshan Library.

As the original library of Trinity College, Lilly’s collection includes some of the oldest acquisitions, many of them bought for the Woman’s College Library in the 1930s. Many are in good condition, others are visibly tattered, worn, loved, and annotated by generations of students who studied Latin and Greek on East Campus.

In the spirit of Professor Billy Gill’s commitment to classical scholarship and teaching, in preparation of Lilly’s renovation, and in honor of those studious alumni, we are giving away the Lilly Loebs as gifts to Duke’s current students, faculty and staff. Each book includes a plate commemorating the Lilly Renovation Project, designed by Ms. Carol Terry, of Lilly Library.

Duke faculty, staff and students are invited to select gift copies from the Lilly Library Loeb Classics collection. Details:

Lilly Gives its Loebs to Duke Students, Faculty, and Staff

When: Friday April 12: 1 to 5pm*
Where: Lilly Library Room 103

Note: for this event, a Duke ID is required.
*On Friday, April 12th, there is a limit of 10 titles per person.

Due to an enthusiastic response, all titles were claimed on Friday April 12th. Thank you to our Duke community for your interest.