Harvard Library
Owner Id3523
TypeCorporate body
Biographical dates - Period of existence1636-
Other InformationThe constituent libraries in the Harvard University library system were consolidated as a single administrative entity in 2013. Prior to that time, the various libraries (numbering between 70 and 105, depending on how sub-libraries were counted) operated as quasi-independent entities. Those libraries holding incunabula are entered here, with their founding dates, as "activities". In two cases, the Countway Library of Medicine and the Andover-Harvard Theological Library, portions of the collections are still legally owned by another institution, but are fully integrated into the Harvard system. The libraries are located in several cities within the United States; one is in Florence, Italy.
Variant NamesBibliotheca Harvardiana, Cambridge, Mass.
College Library, Cambridge, Mass.
HCL
Harvard College Library, Cambridge, Mass.
Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass., Bibliotheca Harvardiana
Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass., Harvard Library
Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass., Widener Library
Harvard University Library
Harvard University, College Library
Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Library
Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., Bibliotheca Harvardiana
Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., College Library
Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Library
Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., Widener Library <Harvard College>
Widener Library, Cambridge, Mass., Harvard College
Other Identifierhttp://thesaurus.cerl.org/record/cnc00007523
Activity
Start (year)1636
NoteFrom its founding in 1636, the central library was known as the Harvard College Library, eventually incorporating several components, chiefly Widener Library.
MARC Area Coden-us-ma
PlaceCambridge (Geonames Id: 4931972)
Profession / Type of InstitutionUniversity
CharacterisationNo characterisation/lay
Activity
Start (year)1817
NoteThe Harvard Law School Library was created at the time of the founding of the Law School. Incunabula are held in the Historical and Special Collections within the library.
MARC Area Coden-us-ma
PlaceCambridge (Geonames Id: 4931972)
Profession / Type of InstitutionUniversity
CharacterisationNo characterisation/lay
Activity
Start (year)1861
NoteThe Ernst Mayr Library of the Museum of Comparative Zoology was founded in 1861.
MARC Area Coden-us-ma
PlaceCambridge (Geonames Id: 4931972)
Profession / Type of InstitutionUniversity
CharacterisationNo characterisation/lay
Activity
Start (year)1864
NoteThe Gray Herbarium Library was founded in 1864, with the gift of the library of Asa Gray forming its core. It is part of the Botany Libraries in the Harvard University Herbaria.
MARC Area Coden-us-ma
PlaceCambridge (Geonames Id: 4931972)
Profession / Type of InstitutionUniversity
CharacterisationNo characterisation/lay
Activity
Start (year)1872
NoteThe Arnold Arboretum Horticultural Library was founded in 1872. The Arnold Arboretum Library in Cambridge is part of the Botany Libraries in the Harvard University Herbaria; not to be confused with the current Arnold Arboretum Horticultural Library in the Jamaica Plain section of Boston, which supports the living collections in the arboretum.
MARC Area Coden-us-ma
PlaceCambridge (Geonames Id: 4931972)
Profession / Type of InstitutionUniversity
CharacterisationNo characterisation/lay
Activity
Start (year)1911
NoteThe Andover-Harvard Theological Library, also known as the Harvard Divinity School Library, was founded when the Harvard Divinity School merged with the Andover Theological Seminary. The merger was dissolved in 1926, but the library remained intact; a portion of the collection is still owned by the Andover Newton Theological School, on permanent loan to Harvard.
MARC Area Coden-us-ma
PlaceCambridge (Geonames Id: 4931972)
Profession / Type of InstitutionUniversity
CharacterisationNo characterisation/lay
Activity
Start (year)1927
NoteThe Baker Library of the Harvard Business School was founded in 1927. In the 1930s, it incorporated the Kress Library of Business and Economics, now the Kress Collection of Business and Economics within the Baker Library Historical and Special Collections.
MARC Area Coden-us-ma
Profession / Type of InstitutionUniversity
CharacterisationNo characterisation/lay
Activity
Start (year)1940
NoteThe Dumbarton Oaks Research Library in Washington, D.C., was founded in 1940, the gift of Robert Woods Bliss and Mildred Barnes Bliss.
MARC Area Coden-us-dc
PlaceWashington (Geonames Id: 4140963)
Profession / Type of InstitutionUniversity
CharacterisationNo characterisation/lay
Activity
Start (year)1941
NoteThe Economic Botany Library of Oakes Ames was founded in 1941 when Oakes Ames retired and donated his library to Harvard, where it forms the core of the collections.
MARC Area Coden-us-ma
PlaceCambridge (Geonames Id: 4931972)
Profession / Type of InstitutionUniversity
CharacterisationNo characterisation/lay
Activity
Start (year)1942
NoteThe Houghton Library was opened in 1942, as the rare book repository within the Harvard College Library; it was the successor to the Treasure Room in Widener Library. The building was the gift of Arthur A. Houghton.
MARC Area Coden-us-ma
PlaceCambridge (Geonames Id: 4931972)
Profession / Type of InstitutionUniversity
CharacterisationNo characterisation/lay
Activity
Start (year)1959
NoteThe Biblioteca Berenson, or Berenson Library, is located in the Villa I Tatti, Florence, Italy.
MARC Area Codee-it
PlaceFlorence (Geonames Id: 3176959)
Profession / Type of InstitutionUniversity
CharacterisationNo characterisation/lay
Activity
Start (year)1960
NoteThe Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine was founded in 1960 by the merger of the library of the Harvard Medical School with the Boston Medical Library. Incunabula are held in the Center for the History of Medicine. The first Boston Medical Library (BML) was founded by Doctors John C. Warren and James Jackson in 1805. The Boston Medical Library was formally organized in 1875 by Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes who served as its President. In 1960, the Boston Medical Library and the Harvard Medical School Library entered into an agreement to combine their collections and administration in a new building known as The Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine. Each of the two original institutions continue collecting and ownership of its holdings. The combined library ranks as one of the largest medical libraries in the world.
For further reading see McCord, David (ed.) Bibliotheca Medica: Physician for Tomorrow, Boston: Harvard Medical School, 1966.
MARC Area Coden-us-ma
Profession / Type of InstitutionUniversity
CharacterisationNo characterisation/lay
Activity
Start (year)1999
NoteThe Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America has its roots in the Hilles Library of Radcliffe College, which was founded in 1908 as the women's college associated with Harvard. Women eventually became fully integrated into Harvard, and Radcliffe College became the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.
MARC Area Coden-us-ma
PlaceCambridge (Geonames Id: 4931972)
Profession / Type of InstitutionUniversity
CharacterisationNo characterisation/lay
Last Edit2017-10-22 21:47:31