Collection Development Policy: Renaissance & Early Modern Studies
  • Subject Librarian(s):
    William Monroe

  • Departmental Library Representative (DLR):
    Virginia Krause

  • Description of the Academic Program | Home Page
    Renaissance & Early Modern Studies is an undergraduate program proposing the study of Europe and the New World during the period 1350-1800 CE. Students select one discipline as a foundation, but work in at least two other disciplines as well. Courses are selected from those offered within various departments of the University. Faculty participating in the program include those from Africana Studies, Classics, Comparative Literature, English, French Studies, History, and Hispanic Studies, among others.



  • Overview of the Collection
    The Renaissance & Early Modern Studies collections support the Program in Renaissance & Early Modern Studies, as well as graduate study and research based in several departments and programs throughout the University. The collections include primary and secondary literature on the history and culture of the period, roughly 1350-1800. The materials collected include current publications in the fields of history, literature, philosophy, art, and music. Publications in major European languages are acquired for the collection, with particular emphasis on English, French, Italian, Spanish, and Latin. Materials in all formats are collected, though the majority of the collection is in printed form.

    Brown’s collections in Renaissance & early modern studies span a wide range of disciplines, and are built by several different librarians taking a disciplinary approach, with one librarian assigned to the cover the interdisciplinary aspects. In addition to collecting editions of primary texts from the period, we try to collect all important secondary literature. We also hold a small collection of late medieval manuscripts, consisting of about 30 codices, as well as numerous individual leaves, and a very good collection of early printed books.



  • General Collecting Guidelines
    We make an effort to collect all important scholarship on the Renaissance and the early modern period published in English and, to a lesser extent, in other western European languages (especially French, German, Italian, and Spanish). In those areas for which we collect at the research level (see the table below), we try to have the major sources in the original languages, as well as secondary scholarship in relevant modern languages. As more and more primary texts and tools become available in electronic form, we make every effort to obtain access to them.

  • Detailed Subject Breakdown

  • Specific Collecting Guidelines
    • Language: Western European languages, and other languages of sources (Latin, Greek, Arabic, Hebrew), other languages as appropriate
    • Chronological Span: Approximately 1350-1800 C.E.
    • Geographical Range: Mostly Europe and the Atlantic world, with some attention paid to North Africa and the Middle East.
    • Types of Material Included: Scholarly monographs and journals, editions and facsimiles of primary sources, manuscripts and early printed books, some electronic resources (especially digital versions of primary texts), and some films (mostly on DVD). The Music Library also collects scores and recordings of Renaissance music. Excluded: Textbooks, ephemera


  • Areas of Distinction
    Special strengths are in French and Italian history and literature. The history of art & architecture is well represented for this period.

  • Special Collections
    About 30 late medieval and Renaissance manuscript codices and numerous individual manuscript leaves. Early printed books. Facsimiles of manuscript books. Annmary Brown Collection, Koopman Collection, History of Science collections. Chambers Dante Collection. Machiavelli Collection.

  • Related Collections
    Resources relevant to the Renaissance and the early modern period are found throughout the library collections. In addition, Brown is a member of the Boston Library Consortium and NERL (Northeast Research Libraries). Among the members of these groups are most of the Ivy League schools, as well as Boston College and Brandeis University, all of which have very strong collections on one or more aspects of the period.

    The Library’s Special Collections hold many rare books and manuscripts of possible interest for the study of the period, including manuscripts and early printed books, as well as some of the specialized named subject collections (see: http://dl.lib.brown.edu/collatoz/ ). The John Carter Brown Library (also on campus) has a great deal of relevant material, especially concerning the period of exploration and discovery.