Thompson Library

The Frederick Ferris Thompson Memorial Library is awe-inspiring, a cathedral to the life of the mind. It houses one of the finest undergraduate libraries in the country—a million print volumes—as well as extensive electronic resources, archives and special collections, and a high tech learning center known as the Media Cloisters Aside from what you can do in it, though, the space itself is ethereal. A massive stained-glass window, called the Cornaro Window, illuminates the main hall. The window portrays Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia, the first woman ever to receive a doctorate, defending her thesis before the scholars of Padua. Vassar students like to study for finals under her benevolent gaze. They say it makes them feel smarter.