Archival Collections A-Z

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1798 Collection

(Special Collections) The collection, which includes both primary and secondary resource material, spans a twenty-eight year period of Irish history from 1775-1803, concentrating on the Rebellion of 1798. This particular period of Irish history marks the beginning of the Irish republican movement which has dominated Irish politics to this day. The Collection includes significant material pertaining to the impact of the American War of Independence on Ireland, the rise influence and decline of the Irish Volunteers, the influence of the French Revolution on Irish radical thought, the social and economic consequences of the age of Enlightenment, the insurrection of 1803 and the other related topics. It contains close to 2,000 monographs, serials, newspapers, pamphlets, broadsides and manuscripts. (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Found in Irish Studies Rare Books

20th Regiment Collection

(Rare Books and Manuscripts) This collection contains books, manuscripts, images, and artifacts relating to military affairs, with a particular focus on the American Civil War and on Massachusetts soldiers and regiments. The collection is particularly strong with respect to regimental histories, containing a near complete run of the General Orders of the various Departments of the Union Army, as well as contemporary sheet music (southern as well as northern). The collection also includes 10 scrapbooks of patriotic envelopes and 9 portfolios of the battle and camp photographs by Mathew Brady and Alexander Gardner. In 1896, the surviving members of the 20th Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, donated $10,000 remaining from funds collected for the marble memorial lion in the McKim staircase to establish a special collection of books "of military and patriotic nature." As part of their original gift, members of the 20th Regiment Association donated copies of their own diaries, reports, and letters. To these have been added other manuscript materials pertaining to both North and South. While works concerning other wars and military engagements are not as extensive, there are interesting items from the War of 1812 and the Mexican War, and the monumental sets of official records of the 1st and 2nd Divisions of the American Expeditionary Force. There are also 345 volumes of personal narratives and other works on World War I, the gift of [Mary Boyle O'Reilly]. The collection continues to grow, now also adding materials focusing on Massachusetts' participation in World Wars I and II. (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Found in Anti-Slavery Movement Literature Massachusetts

A

Aarons, Jules Collection

Photographs by Boston street photographer Jules Aarons taken in the neighborhoods of Boston, including the West End and North End, from 1947 to 1976. (Prints & Photographs)

Found in Boston Photographs

Adams, John (1735-1826) Library

Deposited with the Boston Public Library in 1894, the John Adams Library includes over 3,000 volumes collected by the second president during his lifetime (1735-1826) as well as many volumes donated by members of his family. One of the greatest private collections of its day, the Adams Library remains one of the largest colonial American libraries still intact. This remarkable collection represents the intellectual tastes of an influential thinker, writer, and political philosopher who helped shape the Constitution of the United States and drafted the Massachusetts Constitution, the oldest functioning written constitution in the world. John Adams’s library spans the fields of classics, literature, history, politics, government, philosophy, religion, law, science, mathematics, medicine, agriculture, language and linguistics, economics, and travel. The collection is of particular interest to scholars and historians because Adams recorded thousands of interpretive and critical manuscript annotations in the margins of hundreds of his books. Online access: The collection has been electronically cataloged and can be retrieved through either of the online catalogs. In the research catalog, opens a new window, use an author search for "Adams, John, 1735-1826, former owner". In the catalog, opens a new window use a title search for "John Adams Library (Boston Public Library)" With limited exceptions, the John Adams Library collection has been fully digitized and made available online through Internet Archive. A digitized copy of the 1917 printed catalog is also available. In addition, LibraryThing has compiled a complete catalog of books known to be owned by John Adams held across institutions. The LibraryThing catalog also includes links to digitized copies and unedited transcriptions of many of Adams's annotations in the "Comments" field. (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Found in Literature Massachusetts Politics and Government Rare Books

Adlow Collection of Boston Legal History

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) An extensive collection of documents and judicial records from Suffolk County, Massachusetts, dating from 1711 through 1904, with a primary focus on the years 1800 through 1825. The collection contains files of the Suffolk County Justice of the Peace, Court of Common Pleas, General Sessions of the Peace, and Supreme Judicial Court. The core of the collection is comprised of nearly 23,000 writs of attachment, opens a new window and writs of execution, opens a new window, organized chronologically and under the justices who issued them. The collection also contains runs of other documentation, sometimes substantially complete, including: coroner’s records and inquests dating from 1775 through 1860; lists of prisoners; warrants, recognizances, summonses, dockets, criminal complaints, opinions and judgments, jury materials (lists of jurors, indictments, etc.), petitions, militia delinquencies, complaints to the Health Department; accounts, expenses, and miscellaneous bills; documents relating to construction of the Leverett Street Jail, opens a new window and the Suffolk County Courthouse on School Street, opens a new window; papers of individual judges, and many additional materials. Though the Adlow Collection is comprised largely of judicial records, it is also an extremely rich source for studies in the social history of Boston. Individual documents often contain specific details and narratives of events in the lives of ordinary Bostonians recorded in no other sources. The collection is named after Elijah Adlow (1896-1982), Chief Justice of the Municipal Court of the City of Boston. In 1954, Judge Adlow was notified that, due to an immediate need for space, a collection of "rubbish" long stored in an old basement vault of the courthouse was being considered for removal and incineration. Upon inspecting the materials in question, Adlow recognized their historical significance and the urgent need for their preservation. Having halted the destruction of the entire cache, Adlow later arranged for the materials to be transferred to the Boston Public Library. Comprising approximately 40,000 items, the collection is organized into several different categories, described and processed at varying levels of detail. As of 2020, the collection is primarily accessible through a set of printed finding aids kept in the Rare Books and Manuscripts Department. For further information about use and access, consult the catalog record, opens a new window. (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Found in Archives Boston Massachusetts

Anti-Slavery Collection

The nucleus of this collection was presented to the Library in the late 1890s by the family of William Lloyd Garrison and other individuals involved in the anti-slavery movement. The collection features artifacts, books, documents, letters, and pamphlets from Boston reformer Wendell Phillips and the letters and papers of orator and abolitionist leader William Lloyd Garrison dating from the 1830s through the 1870s, totaling more than 16,000 items. The collection also contains daguerreotypes of noted abolitionists; the papers of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society; and the papers of Maria Weston Chapman and Deborah Weston, Amos Augustus Phelps, Lydia Maria Child, Samuel Joseph May, and John Bishop Estlin. Other items include the full run and the account books of the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator; records of the American, New England, and Massachusetts Anti-Slavery societies; scrapbooks concerning Anthony Burns and John Brown; and the files of Ziba B. Oakes, a slave broker from Charleston, South Carolina. The library also has extensive holdings of printed material relating to the anti-slavery movement. The libraries of William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, and Theodore Parker are here, all rich in relevant pamphlets and broadsides. The Hunt Collection on the West Indies is another fine resource from a different perspective, as is the E.A. Phelps British Anti-Slavery Society Papers. In addition, an 89-page unpublished typed index to The Liberty Bell is available in the Rare Books Department. Online access: For more information about the collection, including its contents, history, and organization, please consult the BPL research guide, opens a new window. (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Found in Anti-Slavery Movement Boston Massachusetts Social Action

Artz (Victorine T.) Collection of Literature, The

See: [Longfellow Memorial Collection]

B

Barlow, Samuel L.M. (1826-1889) Collection

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) The Boston Public Library was a major purchaser of books from the February 1890 sale of the library of Samuel Latham Mitchill Barlow. Among other highlights, the Barlow Collection contains the first Latin edition of the Columbus Letter, opens a new window; the first edition of Richard Hakluyt’s Principal navigations, Nicolas Bautista Monardes’ Joyfull newes out of the newfound world; Ann Bradstreet’s Tenth muse; George Mourt’s A relation…of the English Plantation, opens a new window; and rare works of the 15th through the 16th centuries in Dutch, French, and Spanish. It also includes The True Copie of the Court booke of the Governor and Society of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, opens a new window, written between 1640 and 1646, which documents the pre-migration business of the Massachusetts Bay Company beginning in 1629, along with rulings of the General Court and the Court of Assistant of the Massachusetts Bay Colony through 1646. Online access Those items in the collection that have been electronically cataloged are retrievable through either of the online catalogs, opens a new window via an author search for "Barlow, Samuel L.M. (Samuel Latham Mitchill), 1826-1889, former owner." A description of the Barlow library and a list of the Library's purchases at his sale may be found in the BPL Bulletin, vol.IX (1890, p. 206-208), opens a new window and IX (1890, p. 359-376), opens a new window. A copy of the Barlow sale catalog, annotated by Mellen Chamberlain with prices paid by the BPL, is available at Internet Archive, opens a new window. (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Found in Americana Literature Rare Books

Barton, Thomas Pennant (1803-1869) Collection

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) Thomas Pennant Barton (1803 – April 5, 1869) was an American bibliophile who is primarily remembered for the collection of books by and relating to William Shakespeare and English drama that he amassed between 1834 and 1869. Four years after his death, Barton's collection was acquired by the Boston Public Library, where it has remained ever since. John Alden refers to Barton as "the first American to form an extensive, purposeful collection of Shakespeariana." Indeed, his participation in the Heber sale (1834-1836) marked a watershed moment in the history of American Shakespeare collecting. During that single sale, Barton acquired, among other things, the first quarto of A Midsummer Night's Dream, the first quarto of The Merchant of Venice, and the third quarto of Hamlet (lot nos. 2012, 2014, and 2021, respectively). Over time, Barton became increasingly interested in enhancing the Shakespearian portion of his library by creating a comprehensive collection of autographs of figures associated with Shakespeare's work. The autograph collection the Barton amassed contains thousands of handwritten letters and documents by Shakespearian editors, translators, commentators, publishers, printers, actors, collectors, and scholars. Barton was also interested in English drama more generally, and the collection is particularly strong with respect to the early modern period, containing hundreds of quarto editions of English playbooks by playwrights including Christopher Marlowe, John Lyly, Thomas Kyd, Ben Jonson, Thomas Middleton, John Fletcher, and Thomas Heywood, among others. Barton also amassed substantial selections of French, Italian, Spanish, and German literature and belles-lettres. In addition, nearly 4,000 volumes in Barton's collection come from the personal library of his father-in-law, Secretary of State Edward Livingston, which Barton inherited in 1836. Livingston's library consisted largely of works on jurisprudence and history. Background information on Barton and his library may be found in the Catalogue of the Miscellaneous Portion of the Collection (1888); Boston Public Library Bulletin, 4th series, v.3 (1921), pp. 173-177, opens a new window; and "America’s First Shakespeare Collection," by John Alden, in Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, v. 58 (1964) pp. 169-173. Information and online access

Those items that have been electronically cataloged are retrievable through either of the online catalogs, opens a new window via an author search for "Barton, Thomas Pennant, 1803-1869, former owner."
Digitized materials from this collection can be accessed through Internet Archive, opens a new window or Digital Commonwealth, opens a new window.
The 19th-century published catalog of the collection is a particularly useful resource, as it provides a comprehensive list of books in the Barton Collection, including many thousands of items that have not yet been electronically cataloged.
Early playbooks from the Barton Collection form the core of the Early English Playbooks Collection, opens a new window.

(Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Found in Literature Performing Arts Rare Books

Benton, Josiah (1843-1917) Collection of the Book of Common Prayer

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) The Benton Collection of Editions of the Book of Common Prayer is one of the most extensive existing collections of its kind and includes first-edition copies of the Prayer Book of 1549, King Edward’s second Prayer Book of 1552, Queen Elizabeth’s Book of 1559, King James' of 1604, and five copies of the final alteration of 1662, in addition to hundreds of other editions. There are also nearly 100 translations of The Book of Common Prayer into the languages of peoples from around the world. The "American" portion of the collection contains the first edition of of The Book of Common Prayer printed in America (1710), the "Mohawk Prayer Book" of 1715, Benjamin Franklin’s abridgment of 1773, and the liturgy of the first Episcopal Church in Boston, 1785. The multiple editions and revisions of The Book of Common Prayer brought together by this collection represent not only the history of the Church of England, but also the history of early modern European printing and Anglo-American bookbinding more generally. A majority of the books are in contemporary bindings, with material evidence of provenance entirely intact. In addition to The Book of Common Prayer itself, the collection also contains some of the scarcest English Primers, prayers books, and religious tracts, including the Scottish liturgy of 1637, and the first Prayer Book of the Church of Ireland of 1721, The original collection was bequeathed by Boston Public Library trustee Josiah H. Benton in 1919. It began with 658 volumes and now numbers well over 1,500. Online access Those items that have been electronically cataloged are retrievable through either of the online catalogs, opens a new window through a title search for "Benton Collection of Editions of the Book of Common Prayer." Digitized materials from this collection can be accessed through both Internet Archive, opens a new window and Digital Commonwealth, opens a new window. (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Found in Rare Books Religion

Boston Authors Club Library

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) A collection containing 2,000 titles by most of the 20th-century authors residing in the Boston metropolitan area as well as ephemeral material relating to the Club from its founding in 1887. Highlights include poetical tributes to Julia Ward Howe on her 86th birthday and to Alice Brown on her 62nd. The Club is still active and continues to contribute to this collection by forwarding books by its members to the BPL on an annual basis. (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Found in Boston Literature

Boston Browning Society Collection

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) Given to the library in 1897, the collection contains monographs by and about Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning with photographs, manuscripts, first editions, and many biographical and critical works. The collection includes the Browning sketchbook, containing 29 caricatures and drawings by Robert Browning, and almost 200 by his father; proof sheets of Sordello, with corrections in the poet’s own hand; a copy of Bells and Pomegranates (1841-1846); and copies of some of Elizabeth Browning’s poetry in her own hand. The Society’s early records, a lock of Robert Browning’s hair, and a jewel box once belonging to Elizabeth Browning are included as well. (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Found in Literature

Boston Latin School Archives

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) The Boston Latin School, founded in 1635, is the oldest educational institution in continuous existence in the United States. Comprising approximately 5,000 items, this collection documents the history of the school during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Printed materials consist of works published by and for the Boston Latin School: yearbooks, invitations, programs, student publications, periodical articles, works by classical authors, Latin and Greek grammars, and materials donated by the Boston Latin School Alumni. Manuscripts and unprinted works include mostly letters and correspondence. Highlights include orders of exercises, annual prize drills, attendance records, public declamations, books and memorabilia of the Boston Latin School Association. (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Found in Boston Education

Boston Tax Records

See: [City of Boston Tax Records, 1780-1821]

Bound manuscripts

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) The Rare Books and Manuscripts department holds approximately 5,000 bound manuscripts. Covering a broad range of topics, time periods, and geographic origins, the collection is comprised of diaries, journals, commonplace books, musical scores, sacred texts, scholarly and literary works, scientific treatises, business records, and government documents, among other topics and forms. Most bound manuscripts in the department are either American or British in origin, but the collections include Armenian, Haitian, Hebrew, French, Italian, and Spanish manuscripts, along with selections of Persian, Arabic, and Ethiopic manuscripts. Some of the manuscripts held in the department are part of larger archival collections and are described accordingly, though the majority are cataloged individually. As of 2018, the majority of the bound manuscripts in the department are accessible through card catalogs only. (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Bowditch, Nathaniel (1773-1838) Collection

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838) of Salem, Mass., was a self-taught mathematician, navigator, and businessman who gained fame for his work on ocean navigation, particularly for his book The New American Practical Navigator (1802). He published many treatises on mathematical problems, navigation, and astronomical computations, and assembled a sizable personal library, which his heirs donated to the Boston Public Library in 1858. Originally comprised of approximately 2,500 books, 500 pamphlets, 100 maps, and 29 volumes of manuscripts from Bowditch's personal library, the Bowditch Collection has since grown to over 10,000 items thanks to an 1890 bequest of funds by J. Ingersoll Bowditch. In its current form, the Bowditch Collection represents the BPL's primary collection of rare printed scientific and mathematical works. Highlights of the collection include first editions of pathbreaking books like Copernicus' De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium, opens a new window (On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres) (1543) and Isaac Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, opens a new window (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy) (1687). Examples of additional early or otherwise important editions include the 1610 Frankfurt edition, opens a new window of Galileo's Sidereus Nuncius (Starry messenger), Kepler's Astronomia Nova (New Astronomy) (1609), and the first edition of Farkas Bolyai's Scientiam Spatii Absolute Veram Exhibens ..., opens a new window ([Appendix] Explaining the Absolutely True Science of Space) (1832), as well as countless other books of enduring value, including rare and important atlases and treatises on navigation, mathematics, and astronomy from the 16th through 20th centuries. Information and online access Those items that have been electronically cataloged are retrievable through either of the online catalogs, opens a new window via a title search for Nathaniel Bowditch Collection (Boston Public Library). The personal papers of Nathaniel Bowditch can be retrieved via a title search for Nathaniel Bowditch Papers (Boston Public Library). A description of the collection was published in: Margaret Munsterberg, "The Bowditch Collection in the Boston Public Library," Isis: A Journal of the History of Science 34 (1942): 140-142. (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Found in Rare Books

Brown, Allen A. (1835-1916) Music Collection

(Arts Department, currently unavailable) An amateur musician and avid collector, Allen A. Brown donated his collection to the Boston Public Library in 1894. Clearly delineated in the terms of his gift was the fact that it was to be a non-circulating, research collection. At the time of the gift, there were approximately 6,900 volumes. By the time of his death, the collection had grown to around 16,000 volumes. The collection is particularly strong in music of the turn of the century. One of its particular strengths is in 19th-century opera, both published and manuscript scores: several of these are performance manuscripts. Part songs, chamber music, orchestral music and oratorios only represent part of the collection. It also contains pamphlets, musical polemics, biographies, monographs, and serials dating from all periods of music. A regular concert-goer, Brown amassed collections of concert programs from the Boston area and from the places he visited while on business. For certain performing groups such as the Handel & Haydn Society, he approached friends and acquaintances for their files to make his more complete. His collection also includes autographed scores dedicated to him by Boston composers. Today the collection continues to grow and now contains over 40,000 volumes. Online access: The digitized four-volume catalog of the Allen A. Brown collection (published 1910-1916) is available online. Selections from the Allen A. Brown Music collection are accessible through Digital Commonwealth and through the Internet Archive.

Found in Music

Brown, Allen A. (1835-1916) Theatre Collection

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) A wealth of material related to drama including works related to burlesque, circus, vaudeville, modern dance, ballet, Yiddish theater, Shakespeare, and opera donated to the Library in 1909. The monographs, now numbering about 7,000 volumes in the collection, are described in an annotated catalog. There are 165 scrapbooks which contain serial and newspaper clippings, magazine articles and theatrical portraits. Among the strong points of the Brown Collection are the 18th and 19th century dramatic periodicals, both English and American; the near complete files of playbills for 19th century Boston theaters; and a collection of 20 unique broadside programs printed before 1801. For additional theater-related collections, see: the Jack Benny letters and clippings, the Fred Allen collection, the Hanlon Family collection, the Boston Theatre Archives, the Tremont Theatre Archives, the Lila Viles Wyman Collection of the Dance, the Italian Libretti and Ballet Collections, the Bertram E. Adams collection of books relating to magic, and the Lotta Clark pageant collection. Online access: A digitized catalog for this collection is available through Internet Archive, opens a new window. (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

C

Chamberlain, Mellen (1821-1900) Collection of Autographs

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) Judge Mellen Chamberlain was a jurist, scholar, and autograph collector who served as Librarian of the Boston Public Library from 1878-1890. Chamberlain amassed what became, during his lifetime, one of the most extensive private collections of manuscripts in America. In 1893, three years after his retirement, he donated the entire collection to the BPL. Judge Chamberlain's interest in American history and literature is reflected in the wide and sometimes comprehensive scope of his collection. Containing approximately 20,000 letters, documents, and portraits, the Chamberlain Collection of Autographs now forms the nucleus of the Library’s overall manuscript holdings. Scope and Contents The Chamberlain Collection of Autographs documents American and European history, culture, and literature from the end of the 15th century through the late 19th century. The American portion of the collection is divided into three sections: Colonial, Revolutionary, and "Culture." documenting the social, political, legal, and military history of the colonies, with a particular focus on Boston and New England. The European portion of the collection is similarly broad in scope, with sections on royalty, culture, and Shakespeare. The culture section itself can be divided into two parts: philosophers and artists. The Shakespeare section consists primarily of correspondence by 18th- and 19th-century scholars and editors of Shakespeare, including Edmund Malone, Elizabeth Montagu, Thomas Bowdler, and George Steevens. Online access: A digitized version of the printed description for this collection is available through Internet Archive, opens a new window. (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

City of Boston Tax Records, 1780-1821

Codman Collection

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) The Codman Collection was originally gifted to the BPL by James M. and Henrietta Gray Sargent Codman in memory of their sons, Henry Sargent and Philip Codman. The collection contains approximately 2,000 volumes on landscape gardening, botany, natural history, and domestic architecture, containing works by Humphrey Repton, John Claudius Loudon, and Frederick Law Olmsted, among others. Online access: A digitized catalog for this collection is available online through Internet Archive, opens a new window. (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Found in Rare Books

D

Daumier, Honore Collection

(Print Department) The career of Honoré Daumier (French, 1808-1879) spanned one of the most turbulent periods in French history, including the Revolution of 1830, the Revolution of 1848, the rise of Napoleon III, and the Franco-Prussian War. Daumier established a reputation as a painter and a sculptor, as well as a printmaker. However, it was through his lithographs that his talents as an artist and as a political and social commentator were fully realized. Boston Public Library’s collection of works by Daumier includes his early caricatures of King Louis-Philippe and other political figures, as well as plates from his later series, including L’Histoire Ancienne, Les Bons Bourgeois, Les Gens de Justice, and Actualites. Of particular interest are a number of white paper proofs, which had to be submitted to the government censor for approval before an image could be published. Although a number of Daumier lithographs and bound volumes of La Caricature came to the library as part of the gift of Albert H. Wiggin in 1941, the majority of the library’s Daumier collection was acquired in 1948 when the Library purchased the collection assembled by the French collector Albert Maroni (1852-1923) and his heirs. Online access: Digitized images from this collection are available through Digital Commonwealth.

Found in Performing Arts

Dupré, Augustin (1748-1833) Collection

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) A collection of 27 items, comprising medals, proofs, dies, medallic portraits, and a single sketch, purchased together on behalf of the Boston Public Library in 1888 by William S. Appleton from the descendants of Augustin Dupré, in Paris. The medals and other materials in this collection, almost all of which are by Dupré himself, were commissioned during the early years of the American republic. The collection comprises:

2 white metal proofs of an unpublished Franklin medal, along with the steel die from which they were struck
1 white metal proof of an oval medal, comprising a shield bearing the Franklin arms
4 bronze Franklin medals (Loubat 15 and 16)
1 bronze portrait of Franklin mounted on a marble slab in a gilt oval frame
1 bisque medallion of Franklin
1 pencil sketch of a draft of the Franklin medal, by Dupré
2 white metal proofs (splashers) of Duvivier’s Washington Comitia Americana medal, apparently showing an earlier state of the die than was used in the creation of the Gold version presented to Washington by Congress
1 smaller proof of an unidentified portrait medal of Washington mounted together with the two splashers
1 bronze Daniel Morgan Comitia Americana medal
2 raised steel dies, representing the reverse and obverse of the Morgan Comitia Americana medal
1 large wax relief model of the Morgan medal reverse
1 bronze Nathanael Greene Comitia Americana medal
1 bronze John Paul Jones Comitia Americana medal
1 bronze portrait medallion of John Paul Jones, signed by Dupré
1 raised steel die and 2 broken, engraved steel dies from the so-called "Diplomatic Medal"
1 bronze Libertas Americana medal
2 framed, gilt plaster proofs of the Libertas Americana medal (1 obverse, 1 reverse). (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

E

Early English Playbooks, 1594-1799

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) Comprised chiefly of individual editions of English-language stage plays issued between 1594 and 1799, the Boston Public Library's collection of early English playbooks is extensive and diverse. Numbering well over 1,500 items, the collection also includes masques, pageants, and other dramatic entertainments, as well as collections of plays. Highlights include 9 quarto editions of Shakespeare's plays issued during his lifetime, including the first editions of Midsummer Night's Dream, opens a new window, Much Ado About Nothing, opens a new window, and The Merchant of Venice; all four 17th-century folio editions of Shakespeare's works, the 1616 Ben Jonson folio, opens a new window, the 1647 and 1679 Beaumont and Fletcher folios, the 1602 editions of Marston's Antonio's Revenge, opens a new window and Antonio and Mellida, and Cary's Tragedy of Mariam., opens a new window Most of the items in this collection are found within the Thomas Pennant Barton Collection, opens a new window, though many are held elsewhere within the department. Online access Those items that have been electronically cataloged are retrievable through either of the online catalogs, opens a new window via a title search for Early English Playbooks, 1594-1799. Filtering for "online collections" will retrieve only those items that have been digitized. Additionally, the main collections page, opens a new window can be accessed through the Internet Archive. As of 2018, the online portion of this collection represents the most substantial open-access repository of digitized early English playbooks available online. Many items in the collection are yet to be electronically cataloged or digitized. (Rare Books & Manuscripts, opens a new window)

Found in Literature Rare Books

F

Fantin-Latour, Henri (1836-1904)

(Print Department) Henri Fantin-Latour (1836-1904) was a French painter and printmaker. Fantin-Latour’s lithographs are often associated with the growing Symbolist movement of the second half of the 19th century. In particular, he used that medium to explore his interest in the relationship between the visual arts and music. Many of his prints were inspired by the compositions of the contemporary composers Richard Wagner, Robert Schuman, Johannes Brahms, Hector Berlioz, and Gioachino Antonio Rossini. With a few exceptions, Boston Public Library’s collection of nearly 500 prints by Fantin-Latour came in 1949 as a gift of Albert H. Wiggin, who continued to provide new acquisitions to the library’s Print Department after his initial gift of his private collection of prints and drawings in 1941. Digitized images from this collection are available through Digital Commonwealth.

Found in Music Performing Arts Prints and Drawings

Filene’s Marketing Archives

(Archives) Founded in 1849, Filene’s presence as a major retailer in the New England area is chronicled through promotional materials for marketing campaigns, charity events, store openings, and celebrity appearances. Photographs, press clippings, and videos are among the formats included. Online access: For more information about the collection, including its contents, history, and organization, please consult the BPL research guide.

Found in Boston

Franklin, Benjamin (1706-1790) Collection

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) Consists of 1,200 books and pamphlets by, about, or printed by Benjamin Franklin, together with engravings, portraits, medals, and other materials. The collection began with a gift from Dr. Samuel Abbott Green in 1880, which consisted of 135 books and 87 portraits. Over time, Abbott's initial gift was supplemented by additions by purchased, and from various benefactors. Today, the Benjamin Franklin Collection, classed together in the Rare Books Department under call numbers K.10 through K.30, brings together the majority of the BPL's Franklin and Franklin-related holdings. However, many additional Franklin-related items are held within other collections throughout the Rare Books Department and throughout the library. Online access: Items that have been fully electronically cataloged can be retrieved through either of the online catalogs, opens a new window via a title search for "Benjamin Franklin Collection (Boston Public Library)" An article in the April, 1956 issue of the Boston Public Library Quarterly describes the history of the collection, opens a new window. An article in the October, 1882 issue of the Bulletin of the Boston Public Library provides a preliminary list, opens a new window of items in the collection, while the January, 1883 issue provides a further list of items in the collection related to Franklin, opens a new window. (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Found in Biography

Freiligrath (Ferdinand) Collection

See: Montgomery Sears/Freiligrath Collection

G

Galatea Collection

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) The Galatea Collection is a group of approximately 5,000 volumes focused specifically on the history of women. Among many other topics, it represents a particularly rich source for the study of the 19th-century women's rights movement in America. Highlights of the collection include nearly complete runs of The Lowell Offering (1843-1845), Woman’s Era (1894-1897), and Woman’s Journal (1870-1917), as well as original printings of the proceedings of many of the major 19th-century women's rights conventions, beginning with the first edition of the proceedings of the Seneca Falls Convention, in 1848. In addition to monographs, rare periodicals, and ephemera, the collection contains many annotated books, inserted correspondence, original manuscripts, and copies either donated by, or associated with, their authors. History: The nucleus of the Galatea Collection was presented to the BPL by Thomas Wentworth Higginson, opens a new window in 1896. Unable to identify any other institutional collection focused on women's history specifically, Higginson built the Galatea Collection with the intent of donating it to the BPL. A catalog of the Galatea Collection, opens a new window was published in 1898 and after the initial gift, Higginson himself continued to contribute materials to the collection. Throughout much of the 20th century, BPL librarians added to the collection, increasing the number of volumes nearly five times over. Online access: Materials can can be retrieved through either of the online catalogs, opens a new window via a title search for Galatea Collection (Boston Public Library). The collection is documented in the Research Publication’s microfilm series, The History of Women Pictured: The Woman's Era (vol.2, no.1) April, 1895 (BPL P.90.978K.1); The Lowell Offering (vol. 1, no.1) October, 1850.

Found in Literature Women’s Studies

Gilbert, John Gibbs (1810-1889) Collection

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) About 470 monographs on performing arts subjects and plays collected by Boston actor-manager Gilbert. (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Found in Boston Performing Arts

Gould, Elizabeth Porter (1848-1906) Library

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) This collection of approximately 280 volumes comprises published works, scrapbooks, and manuscript correspondence collected by Elizabeth Porter Gould. The collection is often referred to as the Artz Cabs, after the old classification system under which the collection was original organized. The shelflist for the collection contains a comprehensive list of holdings. (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Found in Literature

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Haitian Manuscripts Collection

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) The Haitian Manuscripts Collection is a group of over 1,000 items created in Haiti from approximately 1714 to 1916. The collection documents French colonial rule of Saint-Domingue, British and American interests in the region, the Revolution, the beginning of Haitian self-rule, and the development and evolution of the republic through the early 20th century. Among other materials, the collection includes personal correspondence, business documents, financial records, government records, and military orders related broadly to the history of the country. Many of the materials in the collection were created by, or relate to significant figures in Haitian history, including Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Toussaint Louverture, Henry (Henri) Christophe, Alexandre Pétion, Jean Pierre Boyer, Donatien-Marie-Joseph de Vimeur, and Julien Raimond. The group of manuscripts that constitute the Haitian Manuscripts Collection, as it exists today, were assembled primarily between 1966 and 1972. Individual items were purchased from booksellers, received via donation, or transferred from previously existing BPL collections, such as the Benjamin P. Hunt West Indies Collection. Hundreds of the manuscripts in the collection were acquired from Kurt A. Fischer in 1966. Topical coverage in the Haitian Manuscripts Collection overlaps broadly with the Benjamin P. Hunt West Indies Collection, the BPL’s general collection of materials related to the West Indies, and the BPL Anti-Slavery Collection. Manuscripts from or relating to Haiti can be found in each of these collections and groups of materials. Searching and browsing online Descriptions of the contents of the Haitian Manuscripts Collection can be browsed online in the BPL's archival finding aid repository, opens a new window. While there are many ways to search for and browse related BPL manuscript holdings, performing an advanced search in the BPL research catalog for genre: manuscripts and keyword: Haiti will return descriptions of many relevant materials. (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Harris, Charlotte Collection

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) Along with a substantial fund to purchase books published prior to 1850, this collection was originally bequeathed to the Charlestown Branch. The nucleus of 1,118 books was transferred to the Central Library in 1900 and has grown to more than 5,000 volumes. (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Found in Literature

Harry C. Bentley Collection of Works on Bookkeeping

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) This collection of approximately 700 volumes was assembled by Harry C. Bentley, founder of Bentley College in Waltham, Massachusetts. In assembling the collection, Bentley sought to gather a copy of the first edition of every book on accounting written by an American author between 1796 and 1900. Bentley donated the collection to the BPL in 1933. The Harry C. Bentley Collection of Works on Bookkeeping documents the history of American business, business education, and the accounting practices used by American businesses -- small and large -- during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries. Researchers working in other fields, but who are interested in better understanding early American ledgers, receipt books, and other accounting records, can find in this collection detailed descriptions of how such documents were created and used. The shelf list for the Bentley Collection contains a comprehensive list of holdings.

Found in Education Massachusetts

Heaney, Seamus Collection

(Rare Books & Manuscripts; Special Collections) Over 500 items related to the Nobel Laureate’s work in books, limited editions, pamphlets, journal articles, critical writing reviews, and ephemera. Materials can be found in either of the online catalogs by performing a title search for "Seamus Heaney Collection (Boston Public Library)" (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Found in Irish Studies Literature

Higginson, Thomas Wentworth (1823-1911) Galatea Collection

See: Galatea Collection

Hunt, Benjamin P., West Indies Collection

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) This collection consists of approximately 8,000 books, pamphlets, manuscripts, maps, charts, and engravings relating to the discovery and history of the West Indies, with special emphasis on Haiti and Barbados. The nucleus of the collection was bequeathed to the library by Benjamin P. Hunt (1808-1877). A one-time resident of Chelmsford, Hunt was long engaged with commerce in Haiti and the West Indies. At a relatively early date, Hunt brought together his uniquely extensive and wide-ranging collection of materials relating to the islands. Now fortified by later additions, the collection contains printed materials that range in date from the 16th to 20th centuries, including rare Haitian imprints from the imperial press, nearly 200 French documents concerning the colonies, numerous pilot guides, legal codes, and works on history, politics, and natural science. Manuscripts include Henry Howard’s three volume Journal, written while an officer in the British army occupying Santo Domingo; Hunt’s own extensive unpublished notes on Haiti; and 18th and 19th century documents related to the French occupation. The collection also includes a handwritten and annotated catalog of Hunt’s own library, along with a typed checklist that brings together most of the Haitian manuscripts. The collection has been described in some depth in More Books (Oct. 1929, pages 313-321), opens a new window and in the B.P.L. Quarterly (1959, pages 21-32, opens a new window, 131-142, opens a new window, 210-216, opens a new window). (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Found in Travel

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Incunabula

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) Books, pamphlets, and broadsides printed with moveable type in Europe before December 31, 1500 are generally referred to as incunabula. This term is borrowed from the Latin word for "cradle," or "swaddling clothes." Books dating from this period thus represent the infancy of modern printing in Europe. Primarily acquired via purchase, but substantially fortified by donations of individual books and complete libraries, BPL's incunabula collection closely documents the inception and spread of printing throughout Europe and the West. As of November, 2020, the collection is comprised of 560 discrete 15th-century editions. Within this group, there are a small number of duplicates, as well as a number of multi-volume sets. The total number of physical items in the collection printed during the 15th century -- counting duplicates and individual volumes -- is 587. Information and online access Visit the BPL research guide, opens a new window for more information, including a history of the collection, links to digitized BPL incunabula, new acquisitions, and a guide to finding incunabula in the BPL online catalogs. Images: (above left): a woodcut from Koberger's 9th German Bible; (above right) a passage of text in the BPL Gutenberg Bible leaf. (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Found in Rare Books Religion

Irish Papers, 1919-1960

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) This collection, which dates between 1916-1960, covers such subjects as the formation of the Irish Republic, the struggle for independence from Great Britain, the Irish Republican Army, and the anti-partisan movement. It includes correspondence relating to Éamon de Valera and Arthur Griffith. Also included are photographs, copies of the Irish Bulletin, and newspaper clippings. An online finding aid is available for this collection.

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Joan of Arc Collection

(Special Collections) This collection comprises books, manuscripts, prints, objets d’art, and historical realia relating to the history and representation of Joan of Arc and her legacy throughout the world, from the Middle Ages through the late twentieth-century. In particular, the collection documents Joan of Arc as an historical figure, religious icon, and warrior. The collection contains approximately 7,000 monographs and 3,000 artifacts. These materials include early Latin and French texts, histories, biographies, plays, novels, poetry, scores, and children’s books. The collection is particularly rich in visual representations of Joan of Arc, and includes statuary, etchings, paintings, medals, ceramic tiles, jewelry, and porcelain. The bulk of the materials were gathered and maintained by John Joseph Cardinal Wright (1909-1979), who donated his collection to the Boston Public Library in 1976. In 1985, John D. McKenna, of Plainfield, New Jersey, made a significant contribution to the collection, via a donation of monographs, rare books, and objects. Prior to his elevation to the Cardinalate, Cardinal Wright had served as Bishop of Worcester, Massachusetts, and of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. An important figure in the hierarchy of the Roman Curia, Wright was also an active bibliophile who maintained a life-long interest in Joan of Arc. He was a member of Boston’s Club of Odd Volumes and a charter member of the Pittsburgh Bibliophiles. Owing in part to his ecclesiastical appointments, Wright travelled extensively throughout the United States and Europe and at each place added to his growing collection of items relating to Joan of Arc. Today, care and maintenance of the Joan of Arc Collection is supported in part through a trust fund established by Cardinal Wright. Information and online access

An abbreviated finding aid for the objects and realia can be accessed through the bibliographic record for the collection in the BPL online catalog
A selection of monographs, rare books, and manuscripts from the collection can be retrieved in the online catalog via a title search for Joan of Arc Collection (Boston Public Library)
A selection of BPL books related to Joan of Arc has been digitized and can be accessed online via Internet Archive
A major exhibition, titled 10,000 Joans: treasures from the Joan of Arc Collection of the Boston Public Library, was held in 2006. An illustrated catalog was published to accompany the exhibition

Found in Religion

Jones, Leslie Collection

A collection of approximately 40,000 glass and film negatives along with several thousand photographic prints taken by Boston Herald-Traveler photographer Leslie Jones, from his personal collection. Jones was a photographer for the Herald-Traveler from 1917 to 1956 and took photographs documenting aviation, crime, sports, Boston scenes, fires, maritime subjects, celebrities and other newsworthy events. Online access: Digitized images from this collection are viewable at Digital Commonwealth. The Leslie Jones collection is in copyright; for permissions and requests for use, please contact specialcollections@bpl.org for more information. (Print Department)

Found in Boston

Jordan, Alice M. (1870-1960) Collection

(Special Collections) Alice Jordan was the first Supervisor of Children’s Services in the Boston Public Library. Historic, contemporary, and international titles are included with the complete works of authors and illustrators represented as well as various editions of fairy tales and old and new classics. The collection contains picture books, fiction, non-fiction, toy and moveable books from the infant to the teen level from the 19th century to the present day. Foreign language material from 80 countries is represented as well. Online access: Selections from the Jordan collection are accessible through the Internet Archive.

Found in Boston Children’s Literature Irish Studies Literature

Juvenile Collection

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) Includes two "Donatus leaves" from the popular Latin schoolboy grammar, originating in Holland in the middle of the fifteenth century. Among the various American collections one may find nearly 100 versions of the New England Primer and its competitors, some fifteen miniature or "Thumb" Bibles, and such rarities as Janeway’s A Token for Children (Boston, 1728) and Perrault’s Tales of Passed Times by Mother Goose (New York, 1795). English and Scottish juvenilia include more than 250 early nineteenth century chapbooks such as The Universal Battledore, The Invisible Prince, A New Middle Book, and The Infantile Cabinet of Beasts. Illustrated books include numerous works of Kate Greenway, Walter Crane, and Randolph Caldecott. (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Found in Children’s Literature Literature

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Kleist, Herbert (1902-1986) Collection

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) Kleist was a librarian and book collector with a particular interest in the art of book design and illustration. The Kleist Collection contains about 5,000 volumes of miniature books, pulp fiction, children’s books, Christmas books, and late 19th-century and early 20th-century imprints. Kleist’s focus on decorative covers, dust jackets, and illustration is the overriding theme of the collection, which documents the work of well-known, obscure, and forgotten designers and illustrators. Online access: Items that have been fully electronically cataloged can be retrieved through either of the online catalogs, opens a new window via a title search for "Herbert Kleist Collection (Boston Public Library)". (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Found in Books Arts and Publishing Decorative Arts Literature Rare Books

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Lane/Mead Boston Maritime Collection

This collection contains many items that capture and reflect the industrial development and history of the Port of Boston, including a Vessel Log of Peabody & Lane; three volumes of the Peabody & Lane Corporate Record books; one vessel's log of Patterson, Wylde & Co.; 46 day books of the P&O Co.; five volumes of the Port of Boston Handbook; two volumes of the International Longshoremen’s Association Scrapbooks, 1 box of the correspondence of Arthur Lane, 2 boxes of correspondence and material donated by the Boston Shipping Association, and more. Online access: A finding aid for this collection is available. Digitized selections from the collection are accessible through the Internet Archive and Digital Commonwealth See also the Massachusetts’ Historical Society’s Boston Port & Seamen’s Aid Society Records. Researchers may contact the Boston Marine Society at www.bostonmarinesociety.org, opens a new window for permission to use its Boston maritime history library.

Lewis, John A. Collection of early New England imprints

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) John Allen Lewis of Boston (1819-1885), was a collector of early New England imprints with a particular interest in the earliest Boston printing presses. The collection bearing his name was donated to the BPL in 1890, 5 years after his death. The Lewis collection is particularly rich in editions from the press of John Foster, including a copy of the first book printed in Boston: Increase Mather's The Wicked Man's Portion (1675). The collection also contains several works by William Penn and more than 200 works by Increase and Cotton Mather. Additional highlights include William Hubbard’s Narrative of the Troubles with the Indians, with the "White Hills" map (1677); John Underhill’s Newes from America (1638); and the Massachusetts Psalter (1709). The Lewis collection also contains several of the issues from Benjamin Franklin’s press, including copies of the Poor Richard Almanack. Online access: A digitized version of the printed catalog of this collection, opens a new window is available through Internet Archive. (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Found in Americana Boston Literature Massachusetts Rare Books

Lewisson, Walter Updike Collection of Washingtoniana

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) Covers the life and times of George Washington, with 6,000 items, many of which were printed before 1800. Received in October 1930 by bequest from Walter Updike Lewisson, this major collection includes books, pamphlets, broadsides, and newspapers. Among the rarer items are a dozen editions of Washington's Farewell Address printed in 1796, and about 220 of the eulogies and funeral orations delivered during the official period of mourning between December 1799 and February 1800. This last group is representative not only of contemporary American oratory, but of local printing in small towns as well as in major centers. As of 2018, much of this collection is accession, but remains uncataloged. A detailed description of the Lewisson bequest was published in More Books (Feb., 1931, p. 49-57), opens a new window. (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Found in Biography

Longfellow Memorial Collection

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) The Longfellow Memorial Collection is focused specifically on literature. It comprises approximately 10,000 volumes containing works by major British and American authors, including many rare editions. In 1896, Victorine Artz of Chicago gave the sum of $10,000 for the purchase of valuable rare editions of the writings, either in verse or in prose, of American and foreign authors. Over time, other gifts and purchases have been incorporated into the collection, including nearly 900 volumes from the estate of Louise Chandler Moulton, and more than 300 others form the library of Elizabeth Porter Gould. The former were often inscribed presentation copies, often with autograph letters inserted. Among other notable first editions to be found in the collection are Little Women, Treasure Island, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Gulliver's Travels, Moby Dick, and The Scarlet Letter. The collection is rich in rare and important editions from authors including Samuel Beckett, James Brendan Connolly, Charles Dickens, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Phillis Wheatley Peters, Edgar Allan Poe, Anne Radcliffe, and W.M. Thackeray. The collection also contains an extensive -- though not exhaustive -- collection of works by and about Walt Whitman (220 volumes). Information and online access Information about those materials from the collection that have so far been electronically cataloged can be retrieved through either of the online catalogs via a title search for Longfellow Memorial Collection (Boston Public Library). Note: this collection is informally known as the Artz (Victorine T.) Collection of Literature. Pictured: (above left) Louisa May Alcott. Little women. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1868-1869 (A.111.4); (above right) Emily Dickinson. Poems. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1891 (A.2231d.1) (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Found in Literature Rare Books

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McGreevy, Michael T. "Nuf Ced" Collection

(Print Department) Donated by the owner of a Columbus Avenue saloon, the collection consists of photographs of professional baseball in Boston and personal scrapbooks from the 1890's to 1912. Originally displayed at McGreevy's tavern, Third Base, the photographs form the largest collection of its kind. It consists of early Boston baseball photographs dating from 1875 to 1916 and many of the most important ballplayers of the 19th and early 20th century are represented, including Cy Young, Ty Cobb, Mike "King" Kelly, Kid Nichols and many others. Also included are panoramic photos of the ballparks of the era including the Huntington Avenue Grounds in Boston and the Polo Grounds in New York. The centerpiece of the collection is a series of photographs related to the first World Series in 1903 between Boston and Pittsburgh. Featured are photographs of the fans of the Boston team, the "Royal Rooters" and their leader Michael T. "Nuf Ced" McGreevy. With the passage of the 18th Amendment prohibiting the sale of alcohol and inaugurating the Prohibition Era, McGreevy was out of business. Always entrepreneurial, McGreevy looked to lease his bar and found a willing tenant in the Boston Public Library. The City of Boston signed a lease for $91.66 a month and in 1923 the Roxbury Crossing branch was opened. In the same year, McGreevy formally gave his collection of baseball photographs to the Boston Public Library. As a result of McGreevy's generosity, the Boston Public Library now owns one of the most important collections of early baseball images in the United States. Online access: Digitized images from this collection are available through Digital Commonwealth.

Found in Boston

Medieval Manuscripts

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) The BPL's Medieval and Early Renaissance Manuscripts Collection documents the development of Western script and illumination across six centuries. The collection represents a major resource for the study of history and art during the Middle Ages and Renaissance in Europe, and is among the finest held by any public institution in America. Holdings are rich in liturgical and devotional works, along with classical Latin and Greek texts, works of philosophy, science, law, geography, and a variety of other subjects and genres. Despite its name, the collection is not strictly limited by standard periodization. Certain later manuscripts, which continue earlier traditions of scribal practice or illumination, are also included, as are a select number of later manuscripts with close associations to materials at the core of the collections. Information and online access For detailed information about this distinguished collection, including information about its contents, history, and organization, please consult the BPL research guide, opens a new window. (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Found in Art Literature Manuscripts Music Rare Books

Merrill, Richard Collection

(Print Department) In 1998, Boston Public Library acquired a collection of over 5,000 negatives taken between 1936 and 1948 by photographer Richard Merrill (1908-1997). While attending Northeastern University, Merrill developed an interest in both photography and radio broadcasting. This led to a long career as a commercial photographer, and to a major project documenting Boston-area radio broadcasting during the World War II era. Working for the Department of Defense, Merrill created an incomparable document of the role that radio played in supporting the war effort on the home front. Highlights of the collection include war bond drives, scrap collection, and national and international celebrities visiting Boston in support of the troops. In addition to his work documenting the war effort, Merrill also documented events related to the March of Dimes, the Boston Bruins, and many other institutions and organizations. He also frequently contributed photo essays to the Boston Herald-Traveler newspaper on a freelance basis. Online access: Digitized images from this collection are available through Digital Commonwealth.

Found in Boston

Montgomery Sears / Freiligrath Collection

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) This collection comprises approximately 2,000 volumes of German literature, poetry, and drama, many of which were once owned by the poet Ferdinand Freiligrath (1810-1876). Freiligrath's personal library was later acquired by J. Montgomery Sears, of Boston. In addition to rare editions of German folk songs and almanacs, the collection includes rare editions of many significant works. While generally rich in literature of the 16th through 19th centuries, the core strength of the collection is in its broad and extremely deep representation of German romantic poetry. A description of the collection was published in More Books (May, 1941, p. 179-189), opens a new window. Those items in the collection that have so far been electronically cataloged can be retrieved in either of the online catalogs with a title search for "J. Montgomery Sears Collection and Library of Ferdinand Freiligrath (Boston Public Library)" (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Found in Literature

Munn, James Buell (1890-1967) Collection

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) A scholarly gathering of 25,000 volumes collected by this eminent Professor of English at Harvard University. This collection has strong holdings in Biblical literature, poetry, 18th- and 19th-century French literature, and 20th-century first editions, such as Ernest Hemingway and T. S. Eliot. Much of the collection has been dispersed in the Library stacks and can be found in the Research Library Catalogs, with the first editions and rare items (2,200 volumes) housed in the Rare Books Department.

Münsterberg, Hugo Collection

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) Born in Prussia in 1863, Hugo Münsterberg was an important research pioneer in experimental psychology and taught at Harvard University for many years. The collection contains roughly 3,000 letters, invitations, and newspaper clippings that collectively represent Münsterberg's professional network comprised of leading American and German scholars, scientists, businessmen, politicians, writers, and philanthropists. The majority of the collection, which covers the period 1892-1916, is made up of letters between Münsterberg and his colleagues in philosophy and experimental psychology and bear on various facets of academic life including personal debates, intellectual disputes, lecture invitations, and gossip. In addition, there is correspondence with publishers, representatives of professional societies, and independent organizations, as well as correspondence relating to administrative matters at Harvard, where Münsterberg was Director of The Psychological Laboratory and faculty member in the Department of Philosophy and Psychology. Digitized selections from the collection are available through Digital Commonwealth. A finding aid is also available.

Found in Literature

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Parker, Theodore (1810-1860) Library

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) A leading American intellectual born in Lexington, Massachusetts in 1810, Theodore Parker was ordained a Unitarian minister in 1836. Parker was a notable religious reformer, a scholar, a member of the transcendentalist movement, and a major voice in the anti-slavery movement. The Theodore Parker Collection comprises approximately 12,800 volumes, 4,600 pamphlets, and many manuscripts. The collection includes grammars, dictionaries of foreign languages, encyclopedias, Latin and Greek classics, literary histories, books on jurisprudence, philosophy, theology, and material on the anti-slavery movement, including broadsides, scrapbooks, and associated ephemera. After his death in 1860, Parker's books came to the BPL via bequest. The second major donated collection of rare materials after the Bowditch Collection, opens a new window, Parker's library brought with it the first medieval manuscript acquired by the BPL, and many of the finest and most important incunabula, opens a new window in the collection. Online access: Those items that have been electronically cataloged can be retrieved in either of the online catalogs, opens a new window via a title search for "Theodore Parker Collection." Many items from the collection have been digitized. Most of the volumes and pamphlets are included in the index to the Catalogue of the Books in the Bates Hall of the Boston Public Library., opens a new window For an early description of the collection, see: Thomas Wentworth Higginson, “Report to the Trustees of the Boston Public Library on the Parker Library” in The works of Theodore Parker (Boston: American Unitarian Association, 1907) vol. 15, pp. 1-10., opens a new window (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Found in Americana Anti-Slavery Movement Ephemera Politics and Government Rare Books Religion Social Action

Pat Alger Collection of Works by Rockwell Kent

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) This collection of 289 items was acquired by the library in 2003. It includes an extensive array of Rockwell Kent's published artwork and writings, along with original pen and ink drawings, wood engravings, lithographs, watercolors, zinc engravings, sketches, textiles, decorative arts, posters, and ephemera. Information and online access

Information about individual items in the collection can be retrieved through either of the online catalogs via a title search for Pat Alger Collection of Works by Rockwell Kent (Boston Public Library)
An item-level inventory is available in the Rare Books and Manuscripts Department.

(Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Paul Sabatier Franciscan Collection

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) This, the working collection of the scholar Paul Sabatier (1858-1928), contains approximately 2,000 volumes focused on the life of St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) and the Franciscan order. The collection comprises early manuscripts (both original sources and Sabatier’s many careful copies of those in European collections), 38 volumes from the 15th and 16th centuries, as well as hundreds of important later works, Franciscan periodicals, and numerous off-prints and presentation copies of books from students of St. Francis throughout the world. Many of these items contain Sabatier’s extensive manuscript notes. A description of the collection can be found in More Books (1931), pp. 273-286, opens a new window. (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Found in Rare Books Religion

Peterfield-Trent , William/Defoe, Daniel Collection

See: Trent/Defoe Collection

Phillips, Mary Elizabeth Correspondence with Robert Kegerries, 1915-1926

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) Edgar Allen Poe biographer Mary Elizabeth Phillips wrote 65 letters to Robert Kegerries, an actor who adapted and performed Poe’s The Tale Tell Heart on stage over one hundred times. These letters reflect Phillip’s research process, including her trips to New York and Philadelphia, and to Poe’s ancestral home in Scotland. Kegerries served as a reader and researcher and loaned Phillips items in his Poe collection. Phillips did much of her work in the Boston Public Library, and in 1926 published Edgar Allan Poe, the Man, opens a new window Online finding aid available.

Prang, Louis & Company Collection

(Print Department) Louis Prang (1824-1909), a German immigrant, ran a highly successful printing firm in Boston during the late nineteenth century. His company produced high quality reproductions of major art work and greeting cards using the complex technique of chromolithography. Prang is often referred to as the 'Father of the American Christmas Card' because holiday cards were rarely exchanged in America until his factory began producing them in the 1870s. The Boston Public Library's Print Department is fortunate to have more than 1,500 chromolithographs and dozens of sample books of greeting cards produced by Louis Prang & Company. Along with the Hallmark Historical Collection in Kansas City, Missouri, the BPL's Louis Prang & Company Collection is one of the two major sources of information on Prang's lithographs. Online access: Selections from the Louis Prang collection are accessible through the BPL's online collections.

Prince, Thomas Library of the Old South Church

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) The Thomas Prince Collection and Library of the Old South Church -- usually just referred to as the Prince Collection -- is a group of approximately 3,500 books and 950 manuscripts assembled primarily by Old South pastors Thomas Prince (1687-1758) and Joseph Sewall (1688-1769). One of the few colonial American libraries to survive largely intact, the Prince Collection is a major resource for studies in the history of early New England. It is also an important resource for historians of the colonial American book. The collection preserves rare and sometimes unique pieces of evidence from the earliest presses in British North America, while contemporary inscriptions, annotations, and marginalia document the reception and circulation of texts in Boston, New England, and throughout the early modern Atlantic world. Holdings are particularly rich in early New England history and literature, along with theological works of the 17th and 18th centuries. Among other highlights, it includes the Bay Psalm Book, opens a new window (1640), and John Eliot's Indian Bible, opens a new window (1663), with many other editions representative of both the varied outputs of the early Cambridge and Boston presses, and of the intellectual life of colonial New England. Throughout the collection, evidence of book production and readerly intervention is rich and varied. Early Boston bookbinders are particularly well represented, with specimens from the workshops of Edmund Ranger and John Ratcliffe, among others. Contemporary bindings made with recycled paper preserve many fragments of early manuscripts and printed books. Many volumes, too, are annotated by successive generations of owners, while duplicate copies held throughout the collection facilitate close comparison and bibliographic study. In addition to printed materials, the collection also contains a significant body over manuscripts, including a major collection of historical papers gathered and preserved by Prince himself. These manuscripts include papers of the Mather family, papers of the Cotton family, a group of papers relating to both the Cotton and Prince families, opens a new window, papers of the Hinckley family, and papers related to the case of Torrey v. Gardner (1734). Information and online access

The BPL research guide for this collection contains a detailed history of the collection, information about how to search for materials, links to related BPL collections, and other useful resources.

Found in Americana Boston Literature Manuscripts Massachusetts Politics and Government Rare Books Religion

Printing History Collection

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) This collection is the result of the first Keeper of Rare Books, Zoltan Haraszti’s farsighted interest in and purchase of hundreds of incunabula and products of the fine French press. Contents of the fine press collection are documented in the catalog and a series of informal lists that also cover types of bindings and binders. Informally known within the library as the "Q-points" (the classification system under which they are filed), the collection contains hundreds of 20th-century fine press publications, type specimens, and facsimiles; an extensive collection of editions from the Kelmscott Press, dozens of early Elzevir and Aldine editions, and a significant collection of 16th- and 17th-century Bibles and psalters, among others. An extensive imprint file groups books by place and date of publication. (Rare Books & Manuscripts) See also: Incunabula at the Boston Public Library

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Ruskin, John (1819-1900) Correspondence

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) Originally from Boston, Massachusetts, Mrs. Francis Alexander (1814-1916) and Francesca Alexander (1837-1917) were introduced to critic John Ruskin (1819-1900) in 1882 while they were living in Italy, and an immediate correspondence was formed. Many common themes run throughout the 300 letters written between 1882-1889, including the writers’ emotional and physical well-being, art, Ruskin’s affairs, professional activities, news about mutual acquaintances, and spiritual beliefs. Ruskin’s letters to Francesca focus on her development as an artist. The collection also contains enclosures forwarded by Ruskin such as letters from important acquaintances, news articles, manuscript proofs, and several of his drawings. An online finding aid is available for this collection.

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Shaw, Mary (1854-1914) Collection

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) This collection contains 204 items, the majority of which are letters addressed to Mary Shaw (1854-1914), an American actress and suffragette, during the years 1882 to 1908. These letters focus mainly on planning professional and personal social engagements. News surrounding the theater community is also discussed. Letters from her business partner George Fawcett (1860-1939), outline his plans for their jointly owned theater company and its finances. In addition, there are 18 written letters by Shaw to her sister, Helen. Among the subjects Shaw writes about are travel, women’s rights, and her career. Also included are manuscripts of plays, poems, playbills, newspaper clippings, and photographs. An online finding aid is available for this collection.

Spanish and Portuguese Literature Collection

See: Ticknor, George Library of Spanish and Portuguese Literature

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Thayer, Eliza Library (d. 1876)

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) Relates to history and biography, including a large number of costly illustrated works containing many historical portraits and a set of Granger's Biographical History of England (1824). The nucleus of this collection consisted of 890 volumes given to the Library in 1877 under the bequest of Miss Eliza Thayer of Roxbury. From time to time, her sisters gave from their own libraries many valuable illustrated books and memorials of Theodore Parker. The entire collection now numbers 5,398 volumes. A printed index of the collection, as well as an index of the portraits within the collection, are both available in the Rare Books & Manuscripts Department. Online access. A catalog of the collection was published in the BPL Quarterly Bulletin in 1895, opens a new window. See also the Theodore Parker Collection.(Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Found in Americana Art Rare Books Women’s Studies

Tichnor Brothers Inc. Postcard Collection

(Print Department) The Tichnor Brothers Collection contains approximately 25,000 office proofs of postcards of the United States published by the Boston firm Tichnor Brothers Inc. These are color postcards with a linen texture dated ca. 1930-1945. The concentration is on American vacation places. Digitized images from this collection are available through Digital Commonwealth.

Ticknor, George (1791-1871) Library of Spanish and Portuguese Literature

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) The Ticknor Library of Spanish and Portuguese Literature was bequeathed to the Library in 1871 by George Ticknor, Harvard professor of Spanish and French, and one of the founders of the Boston Public Library. Ticknor began to develop his collection in 1818 while traveling through Spain. Intending first to form a library through which he could survey the history of Spanish and Portuguese literature, the collection would later come to serve as the intellectual foundation for his monumental History of Spanish Literature (first published in 1849). Ticknor quickly established himself as the preeminent collector of Spanish and Portuguese literature and belles lettres in America. His renowned collection was at one time amongst the most comprehensive in the world. Ticknor continued his main collecting activities through 1852, procuring rarities from auction houses and book marts across Europe by way of his extensive network of connections. In later years, much effort was expended in filling the various gaps and voids within the collection as it already existed. At his death in 1871, Ticknor left his collection of 3,907 books to the BPL, along with a $4,000 trust fund, the income from which was to be devoted to building and maintaining the integrity of the collection. Through acquisition and through the addition of several thousand books already held by the library, the collection today numbers approximately 10,000 volumes. It covers many aspects of Spanish, Portuguese, and Latin American literature and history, including books on art, science, law, and theology. It is especially rich in every phase of Spanish literature, from early editions of Don Quixote (1605) to the manuscript of Lope de Vega's El Castigo sin Venganza, and the Obras of 17th-century Mexican poet Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz. The Ticknor collection contains comprehensive surveys of editions by authors such as Pedro Calderon de la Barca, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Benito Geronimo Feyjoo y Montenegro, Luiz de Camoens, Luiz Velez de Guevara, and Fernan Caballero. Information and online access

A digitized catalog, opens a new window for this collection is available through Internet Archive.
Those items that have been electronically cataloged can be retrieved in either of the online catalogs, opens a new window via a title search for Ticknor Library of Spanish and Portuguese Literature.
Select materials from the collection have been digitized by the Internet Archive.

Further reading An article on the history of the Ticknor Collection, before and after its acquisition by the BPL, was published in the Bulletin of the Boston Public Library in 1921, and can be read online through Internet Archive. (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Found in Literature Rare Books

Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri de (1864-1901) Collection

(Print Department) Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) was a French painter, draftsman, and printmaker. Although he regularly exhibited paintings and drawings throughout his career, Lautrec is best known for his lithographs and especially his posters, which celebrate the cabarets and the performers active in the Montmartre district of Paris during the 1890s. With a few exceptions, the Boston Public Library’s collection of works by Lautrec was assembled by Albert H. Wiggin and came to the library as part of the 1941 gift by Wiggin of his private collection of prints and drawings. Included are plates from the series Elles and the portfolio Yvette Guilbert. Through Wiggin’s generosity, the library also was able to acquire the pages from an early sketchbook of drawings thought to have been created when Lautrec was in his teens. Online access: Digitized images from this collection are available through Digital Commonwealth.

Found in Performing Arts Prints and Drawings

Trent (William Peterfield) Collection of Defoe and Defoeana

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) In addition to writing some of the first English novels, Daniel Defoe was a prolific political pamphleteer and is considered by many to be a founder of modern journalism. The William P. Trent Collection of Defoe and Defoeana is one of the most comprehensive collections of rare and historically significant editions of the works of Daniel Defoe and his contemporaries held by any institution, public or private. The nucleus of this collection is a set of first editions of Defoe’s works, bound in seventy-seven volumes. Throughout the collection, there are hundreds of the various editions and bibliographic states of Robinson Crusoe, Moll Flanders, and Roxana as well as a set of his Review, a forerunner of Addison’s and Steele’s Tatler and Spectator, and hundreds of his famous political pamphlets. This collection contains many copies of titles not known in any other collection. Some of the rarest include: Brief Explanation of the Shortest Way with Dissenters (1703), the publication that sent Defoe to the pillory for three days; Fifteen Comforts of a Scotchman (1707), attributed to Defoe; a manuscript copy of Balcarre’s Account of the Affairs in Scotland (1714), the preface contributed by Defoe; and an attack on Defoe entitled Stockings out of Heels (1703). In addition, there are hundreds of unique pamphlets as well as numerous sole copies extant of Robinson Crusoe, Moll Flanders, and Roxana. Gathered by William Peterfield Trent, a Columbia University professor, and acquired by the library in 1929, the collection also includes pamphlets from the times of William and Mary, Queen Anne, and George the First as well as works by John Dunton, Jonathan Swift, John Oldmixon, and John Toland, numerous tracts dealing with the Sacheverell controversy, and a long run of pamphlets concerning the Dissenters or Nonconformists. Information and online access

Digitized materials from this collection can be found on Internet Archive, opens a new window.
Items that have been electronically cataloged can be retrieved through either of the online catalogs, opens a new window via a title search for "William P. Trent Collection of Works Relating to Daniel Defoe and His Time."
A printed catalog of the collection, issued in 1966, is available online, opens a new window.
Digitized catalog cards, including a shelflist, which lists items in the collection by call number, as well as the author file for Daniel Defoe, which lists works by or attributed to Defoe specifically, can be accessed below.

Trent Defoe Collection shelflist Daniel Defoe author file (works by or attributed to) Defoe.MS.1 to 21.S89.1840 Collected works Defoe.21.T64 1714 to 30.695.P4P Individual works, A to J Defoe.30.696.A10C to 30.712.A4E Individual works, J to Robinson Crusoe (English) Defoe.30.712.A66C to 30.725.A10E2 Individual works, Robinson Crusoe (Armenian) to Y Defoe.30.725.A10F to 718.P93P pf BROADSIDES: Defoe.21.A42 to 711.T68T FOLIOS: Defoe.13.188F to 885.A10F PORTFOLIOS: Defoe.705.A10P to 718.P93P (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Found in Ephemera Literature Manuscripts Politics and Government Rare Books

Tupper Scrapbook Collection

During his life, William Vaughn Tupper (1835-1898) created scrapbooks to document his travels. This collection of 46 scrapbooks contains nearly 2,000 annotated photographs and drawings from the Tupper family's travels in Great Britain, Europe, and North Africa between 1891-1894. Most of the photographs appear to have been purchased by the travelers at major stopping-places and sites. They reveal the business that local photographers did with well-to-do travelers making a grand tour. Online access: Selections from the Tupper Scrapbook collection are available in the BPL's online collections.

Found in Photographs Travel

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Washingtoniana Collection

See: Lewisson, Walter Updike Collection of Washingtoniana

Welch, Joseph Nye (1890-1960) Collection

(Rare Books & Manuscripts, Archives) Material related to the 1954 Army-McCarthy Senate Hearings. Joseph Welch was counsel for the Secretary of Defense in these hearings. This collection has been microfilmed and can be requested for viewing through Research Services.

West Indies Collection

See: Hunt , Benjamin P./West Indies Collection

Found in Travel

Wheeler, Leeds Armstrong Collection

Formed by Wheeler and given by his family in his memory, this collection includes many black and white lithographs and chromolithography from the Boston firm of Armstrong and Company, active from about 1870 to 1900. Included are photographs and memorabilia of Armstrong, and pictures, documents, and notes relating to the Armstrong business, which for a time was the Lithographic Department of the Riverside Press, Cambridge, part of Houghton Mifflin & Co. (Print Department)

Found in Archives Books Arts and Publishing Boston Photographs Prints and Drawings

Whitman, Walt (1819-1892) Collection

Contains more than 300 volumes relating to and by Walt Whitman. The collection was founded by Whitman's earliest biographer, Dr. Richard M. Bucke. In 1896, four years after the poet's death, Bucke gave to the Library a large group of Whitman's material, much of which he had received as one of Whitman's literary executors. Included with the collection were 17 photographs and 20 manuscripts (letters and rough drafts of poems). Additions to the original gift include the collections of two other executors, gifts from several of Whitman's publishers, and another group of volumes from the biographer. (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Found in Biography Literature Manuscripts Rare Books

Woodhull Martin, Victoria (1838-1927) Papers

This collection is comprised of approximately 515 letters that document the relationship between Victoria Woodhull (1838-1927) and her third husband John Biddulph Martin (1841-1897). Many common themes run throughout the letters, including the spouses’ emotional and physical well-being, daily events, and their publication activities. The collection also contains Woodhull and Martin’s correspondence from relatives and colleges and a significant amount of newspaper clippings that document Woodhull’s lifelong interests, among them equal rights, sexual freedom, and marriage. Included in the collection are photographs, manuscript fragments and drafts, and newspaper clippings. Online access: Digitized images from this collection are available through Digital Commonwealth and a finding aid is available. (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Found in Manuscripts Women’s Studies

Works Progress Administration (WPA) Federal Art Project Collection

Contains photographs of work by artists participating in the Works Progress Administration (WPA) Federal Art Project for Massachusetts. The different works of arts and crafts recorded in this collection number over 1,000 and include oils, watercolors, drawings, prints, tempera, metal work, murals, and masks. (Prints & Photographs)

Found in Americana Art Photographs

World's Fairs Collection

Brought together by historian Robert Feer, this collection contains well over 3,000 items including manuscripts, official printed records of the fairs, ephemera, photographs and souvenirs. Originally limited to material relating to World's Fairs of North America, this collection has been expanded to incorporate other fairs and expositions including those abroad. A checklist of the founding collection was published in 1976. (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Found in Advertising Americana Ephemera Photographs Rare Books

Wyeth Family Correspondence

This collection contains 73 letters written by members of the Wyeth family between 1902-1929 and relate family activities, news, and trips. Online finding aid available. (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Found in Art Manuscripts Massachusetts

Wyman, Lilla Viles Collection

(Rare Books & Manuscripts) The Lilla Viles Wyman Collection is comprised of 183 dance books covering such topics as Swedish folk dances, Buddhist ceremonial dances, ballroom dancing, classical ballet, and the history of the polka, among others (Rare Books & Manuscripts)

Found in Dance Music Performing Arts Rare Books

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Young, Victor (1900-1956) Collection

The collection contains 1400 items, primarily conductor’s scores, vocal/piano scores, lead sheets, and instrumental parts, once used by film composer, arranger, and conductor Victor Young. Best known for his Academy Award winning score for Around the World in 80 Days (1956), Young also composed the music for more than 300 films, two Broadway shows, and numerous hit songs and commercials. (The Arts)

Found in Music Performing Arts

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