COLLECTIONS A-Z
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Annmary Brown Memorial
In 1948, Brown University assumed ownership of the Annmary Brown Memorial. The Memorial, built by Civil War General Rush C. Hawkins and named in honor of his wife, contained an internationally know incunabula collection as well as old master paintings and drawings, Revolutionary and Civil War manuscripts and documents, plus the personal correspondence of its founder. These incunabula along with others in Special Collections make up one of the largest collections of 15th century printed books owned by an American university In addition to incunables, the collection contains sizeable manuscript holdings relating to the American Revolutionary and Civil Wars, and to the 17th-century New England witchcraft phenomenon. ...more information
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Archive of Burning Deck Press
Burning Deck is the small press operated by Keith and Rosmarie Waldrop. Since 1961 it has published limited editions of the works of contemporary poets and fiction writers. The archive of Burning Deck consists of financial records, correspondence with contributors, galleys, typescripts, and art work representing forty years of literary publication. The Library also holds a complete collection of Burning Deck imprints, mostly in the Harris Collection. ...more information
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Audubon's Birds of America
The double elephant folio edition of Audubon's The Birds of America was published between 1827 and 1838. Subscribers received 87 parts of 5 prints each (one large, one medium and three small prints). The series contains 435 hand colored plates of 1065 birds. "Double elephant" refers to the size of the sheet of paper, which is the largest size that can be made by hand. Each sheet measures more than two by three feet.
There were 308 original subscribers, who paid approximately 00 for a complete set. While there were 308 original subscribers, only 161 subscribers purchased all parts. It is not possible to locate all of the complete sets. Some have been broken up and sold as individual images.
Albert E. Lownes, Class of 1920, presented his copy (bound in six volumes) to the University on the occasion of his 50th Class Reunion in 1970. Mr. Lownes received his copy as a wedding gift.
In addition, to the Double Elephant Folio edition, the library owns several uncolored proofs and an original printing plate, as well as other published editions of Audubon's work. ...more information
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Broadsides Collection
The Broadsides Collection houses broadsides (single-sheet imprints), posters, bookplates, prints, valentines, greeting cards, postcards, and photographs. From a nucleus of 8,000 pieces in 1928, holdings have increased to over 40,000 items. Largely ephemeral by nature, broadsides are collected by only a few major libraries and historical societies in the United States. Originally issued primarily by governmental, religious, and political bodies, broadsides were later used for advertisements, programs, notices, ballad verses, elegies, and comments on contemporary events. More recently, they have become popular as exemplars of fine printing. Includes holdings of the Harris, Rider, Lincoln, Koopman, Military and general library collections. Notable areas within Harris include slip ballads and carriers' addresses. ...more information
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Dealers' Catalogs
Back files of antiquarian book dealers' catalogs, organized by dealer. Not cataloged or listed. ...more information
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Eichenberg (Fritz)
Engravings (25 total) acquired from the estate of book illustrator and graphic artist Fritz Eichenberg, who is primarily known for his work in wood engraving. ...more information
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Frost (Edwin Collins) and William Henry Frost papers, 1890-1941 (bulk 1890-1910)
This collection, dating from 1890 to 1941, consists of letters addressed to both Edwin Collins Frost (1867-1956) and William Henry Frost (1863-1902) and a small autograph collection. Edwin Collins Frost was an assistant and instructor of rhetoric at Brown University from 1895 to 1898 and the cataloguer of Marsden J. Perry's Shakespeare Collection from 1901 to 1907. William Henry Frost joined the New York Tribune in 1887 as a reporter and drama critic and was the author of four books for children. ...more information
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Harris Collection of American Poetry and Plays
The Harris Collection of American Poetry and Plays is composed of approximately 250,000 volumes of American and Canadian poetry, plays, and vocal music dating from 1609 to the present day. It is perhaps the largest and most comprehensive collection of its kind in any research library. The works of most well-known (and many thousands of little-known) American and Canadian poets and playwrights, from the 18th century to the present day, are held comprehensively. There are significant holdings of early American literature, hymnals, songsters, little magazines, contemporary fine printing, extensive collections on Walt Whitman and Edgar Allan Poe, women's writings, gay and lesbian literature, modern first editions, Yiddish-American literature, and French-Canadian literature. The Collection is fully cataloged, with records available in Josiah, the Library's online catalog.. Includes periodicals, broadsides, recordings, films, electronic resources, manuscripts, prints and photographs. ...more information
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Harry Lyman Koopman Collection
Harry Lyman Koopman (1860-1937 ) was librarian from 1893 to 1930. In honor of Koopman at his retirement, Philip D. Sherman, class of 1902, who had been his student, presented his collection of literature, book arts, and the history of the book to the Library. "This collection contains over 5,000 first editions and rare books, manuscripts and association items, plus prints, drawings, and broadsides. It is a rich source for the study of English literature and the growth of fine printing from the works of Caxton and Chaucer in the 15th century to William Morris and William Butler Yeats in the 19th and 20th centuries." The Koopman Collection is notable its prose fiction by Cooper, Irving, Holmes, and Melville, and for the collection of the works of Thackeray and Dickens issued in parts. Intended as a laboratory collection for the study of the art and history of the book, it includes the production of many late 19th century private presses, books issued in parts, and literary relics. Prints, Photographs, Museum objects, Specimen leaves listed in Koopman Accession book (in Archives). ...more information
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Margaret Bingham Stillwell papers, ca. 1925-1984
The papers of Margaret Bingham Stillwell, librarian of the Annmary Brown Memorial, 1917 - 1953, and professor of bibliography, 1948 - 1953. Includes personal correspondence, incunabula census correspondence, Annmary Brown Memorial correspondence, manuscripts, notes, poetry, talks, subject files, personal papers, Hroswitha Club Papers, specimen pages and galley proofs of Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke. ...more information
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Rare Books Collection
A general rare book collection within special collections, consisting of approximately 700 titles from the fifteenth to the 20th centuries. It represents an early Library effort to identify rare materials within its collections. ...more information
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Reynolds (Horace Mason) papers, 1802-1838
Correspondence, account books, ledgers, invoices, documents, and music music relating to Gottlieb Graupner, John Rowe Parker and the music-publishing industry in Boston, Massachusetts from 1802-1838, collected by writer/editor Horace Reynolds. ...more information
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Rollo G. Silver Collection of Printing and Publishing History
The working library of Rollo Silver, Class of 1931, historian of early American printing, publishing, and typography; includes ca. 3,000 volumes, as well as 45 linear feet of notebooks containing transcriptions or reproductions of primary and secondary source materials.Records the historical development of the printing and publishing industries, particularly in the United States.
The collection includes 64 volumes of notebooks containing the source materials for all of Silver's writings in the history of American printing; include ms. transcriptions, photographs, photostats, and photocopies from published and archival sources; some pamphlets; and typed drafts of some of Silver's own articles and addresses. ...more information
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St. Martin's Press archive, 1952-[ongoing]
In 1997, St. Martin's Press agreed to transfer their archives - thousands of publications as well as their business files - to the Library. In addition to receiving the complete inventory of St. Martin's Press publications dating back to the founding of the press in 1952, the Library receives a copy of every new St. Martin's Press title as it is published. This gift brings to the Library the historical archive of one of the nation's most important trade publishing houses; additions to the archive take place regularly.
The collection includes archival copies of books produced by St. Martin's Press, which are retained by the Press for purposes of producing reprints in the future. These books are individual catalogued in JOSIAH, but housed at the Annex as part of the Hay Library's collections. Because they have been kept primarily for archival purposes, they will be retrieved for use at the John Hay Library.
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Textbook Collection
A collection of approximately 4,500 textbooks on all subjects, dating from the mid-18th century to the 1930s. Call numbers begin with '4-'; ...more information