John Hay Library - Special Collections

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 Church - South American explorer and geographer, 3,500 personal manuscripts and letters, plus books
  • H. P. Lovecraft - personal manuscripts and letters
  • Henry David Thoreau - books from personal library

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