Library, James D. Hoskins—Stained Glass Windows

In the monumental stairwell of the original section of the library are two stained glass windows. In 1952 the UT Chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi presented a window commemorating the 50th anniversary of the chapter’s existence on the Knoxville campus. The symbols depicted on the window are those of the sorority, primarily wheat and the red rose. In 1956 Dr. James D. Hoskins gave the second stained glass window, a memorial to his wife, Lynn Louella Deming Hoskins, who had died in 1954.  The Hoskins window depicts some of the many interests of Mrs. Hoskins, such as her love of flowers and things beautiful, and her artistic interests, including a reproduction of a picture she painted and gave to Dr. Hoskins before their 1899 marriage. The Deming family coat of arms also appears in the design. Both windows were designed by Orin E. Skinner, then head of Connick Studios of Boston, the foremost American stained glass company of the twentieth-century.