Library Overview

Yale's special collections offer unparalleled riches. They include written matter of every kind (from books, manuscripts, and ancient clay tablets to unique prints, posters, and even greeting cards), but they also go before and beyond the written word in many ways. Maps, photographs, sound and video recordings, music scores, art works, coins, and other items of great cultural and historical importance await the interested researcher. Set in the context of extraordinary collections of journals, monographs, and reference works, these treasures represent Yale's intense commitment to preserve and know the human past on every continent and in every age of history. The collections continue to grow in size and diversity, supported by the creativity of Yale's people and the generosity of Yale's friends around the world.

The two largest special collections repositories at Yale—Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (the largest specialized rare book and manuscript library in the world) and Manuscripts and Archives at Sterling Memorial Library—are surrounded and complemented by outstanding special collections in many other libraries and departments:

Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Arts of the Book Collection, Drama Library, Faber Birren Collection, Babylonian Collection, Divinity Library, Benjamin Franklin Collection, Lewis Walpole Library, Lillian Goldman Law Library–Rare Book Collection, Manuscripts and Archives General Collection, Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Map Collection, Medical Historical Library, Music Library Special Collections, Historical Sound Recordings, Oral History, American Music, Peabody Museum of Natural History Archives, Visual Resources Collection, Yale Center for British Art, Yale University Art Gallery.

Yale University
Sterling Memorial Library
PO Box 208240
New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8240
http://www.library.yale.edu/special_collections/
(203) 432-1810 (t)
(203) 432-1294 (f)