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Emory University Libraries

Library Overview

Emory University holds deep collections of rare books and manuscripts with particular strength in modern literature, African-American history, Southern history, the Protestant Reformation, the history of Methodism, and hymnody, among other subjects.

Within the field of modern literature, Emory is particularly strong in W. B. Yeats and his circle, and contemporary British, Irish, and American poetry. Literary collections of special note include the archives of the late poet laureate of Britain Ted Hughes, Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney, as well as important American poets James Dickey, Lucille Clifton, and Anthony Hecht. These rich archival collections are further strengthened by the presence of the Raymond Danowski Poetry Library, a collection of twentieth century poetry numbering nearly 75,000 titles, the personal library of Ted Hughes, and the library of Wallace Stevens' bibliographer, J. M. Edelstein. MARBL also holds important research collections of twentieth century short story writers and novelists, including a significant Flannery O'Connor collection and the archive of novelist Salman Rushdie.

Emory's Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library has deep collections documenting African-American history and culture. A particular focus of these collections has been Black print culture, that is books, periodicals, and pamphlets written, published, and read within the African-American community. Other strengths include African-American journalists, civil rights and post–civil rights movements, and Blacks and the left. Principal holdings include the Camille Billops and James V. Hatch Archives, the papers of Louise Thompson Patterson and Matt and Evelyn Crawford, as well as the papers of writers, composers, artists, and other African-American cultural figures.

The Special Collections Department of Emory's Pitts Theology Library holds one of the strongest research collections in the country for the study of the Protestant Reformation in Germany to 1570. Other strengths include English and American hymody and psalmody, and extensive archival holdings documenting Methodist organizations.

Emory University
Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library
Robert W. Woodruff Library, 10th floor
Atlanta, Georgia 30322
http://marbl.library.emory.edu/
marbl@emory.edu
(404) 727-6887 (t)
(404) 727-0360 (f)