John Hay Library
Encyclopedia
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
in Providence, Rhode Island
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
. Located on Prospect Street, opposite the Van Wickle Gates
Van Wickle Gates
The Van Wickle Gates at Brown University are the ornamental entrance to the main campus area at the corners of College Street and Prospect Street in College Hill. The gates were built with donations by Augustus Stout Van Wickle , who was the president of a bank and several coal corporations...
, it replaced the outgrown former library, now Robinson Hall, as the main library on the campus. The library was named for John Hay
John Hay
John Milton Hay was an American statesman, diplomat, author, journalist, and private secretary and assistant to Abraham Lincoln.-Early life:...
(Class of 1858), the private secretary and assistant to Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
, at the request of Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...
, who contributed half of the $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
300,000 cost of the building. It was constructed to a design by the Boston architectural firm of Shepley Rutan & Coolidge with Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
white marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
in an English Renaissance
English Renaissance
The English Renaissance was a cultural and artistic movement in England dating from the late 15th and early 16th centuries to the early 17th century. It is associated with the pan-European Renaissance that is usually regarded as beginning in Italy in the late 14th century; like most of northern...
style. The library was dedicated on November 10, 1910 and had an estimated collection of 300,000 volumes.
When the main library was removed to the new John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library
John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library
John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library, nicknamed the "Rock", is the main library at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.The library was named after John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Class of 1897. The building was constructed between 1962 and 1964....
in 1964, the John Hay Library retained the special collections and provided temporary quarters for the Physical Sciences Library until the Sciences Library
Sciences Library (Brown University)
The Sciences Library, nicknamed the "SciLi", at Brown University is a high-rise building in Providence, Rhode Island built in 1971. At , it is tied with One Citizens Plaza as the 13th-tallest building in the city...
was built in 1971. The John Hay Library was completely renovated and was rededicated on September 21, 1981.
Anthropodermic book collection
The John Hay Library is well-known for its collection of anthropodermic booksAnthropodermic bibliopegy
Anthropodermic bibliopegy is the practice of binding books in human skin. Though extremely uncommon in modern times, the technique dates back to at least the 17th century...
(books bound in human skin). The Hay acquired the books in the 1960s as gifts from two alumni, at least one an avid book collector. The books were not originally bound in human skin, but were instead rebound for private collectors in the 19th century. The library has three such human-skin books:
- De Humanis Corporis Fabrica (Andreas Vesalius, 1543)
- Dance of Death (two copies), featuring wood-cut illustrations by Hans Holbein the YoungerHans Holbein the YoungerHans Holbein the Younger was a German artist and printmaker who worked in a Northern Renaissance style. He is best known as one of the greatest portraitists of the 16th century. He also produced religious art, satire and Reformation propaganda, and made a significant contribution to the history...
Special collections
The Library houses Brown's Special Collections division, which includes those materials that require special handling and preservation. Although many of the items in Special Collections are rare or unique, a majority of the materials are part of large subject-oriented collections which are maintained as discrete units. Altogether, Special Collections consists of over 250 separate collections, numbering some 2.5 million items.Notable items include:
- Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection - graphics, books and miniature soldiers
- Brown University Archives - official university records, photographs, university publications, student group records, artifacts, and personal papers
- Colonel George Earl ChurchGeorge Earl ChurchColonel George Earl Church , was an American civil engineer and geographer, famous as an explorer of South America.-Early life:...
- South American explorer and geographer, 3,500 personal manuscripts and letters, plus books - H. P. LovecraftH. P. LovecraftHoward Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....
- personal manuscripts and letters - Henry David ThoreauHenry David ThoreauHenry David Thoreau was an American author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, and leading transcendentalist...
- books from personal library
The Pembroke Center Archives
Created under the auspices of the Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on WomenPembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women
The Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women at Brown University was established in Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, as an interdisciplinary research center on gender and society...
, the Christine Dunlap Farnham Archives focuses on nineteenth and twentieth-century Brown and Rhode Island
Rhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
women and their organizations. In addition to correspondence, diaries, photographs, newspapers, yearbooks, and memorabilia, it also includes a collection of oral history tapes and videos. The materials on women are located throughout the University Archives and Special Collections. There is a 500-page Research Guide to the Christine Dunlap Farnham Archives which includes more than 1,000 entries describing the collection. This guide, however, is badly outdated and in some cases contains erroneous information.
Also included within the Pembroke Center Archives is the Elizabeth Weed Feminist Theory
Feminist theory
Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, or philosophical discourse, it aims to understand the nature of gender inequality...
Papers collection, inaugurated in 2002, which preserves the legacies of prominent feminist thinkers. This collection continues the Pembroke Center's commitment to documenting the contributions of feminist scholars to cutting-edge research and making their papers available to scholars.