Research Guides: Poems and Poets: Special Collections and Archives

A few other Research Guides to consult . . .

The Fales Library and Special Collections

NYU Special Collections Center
The NYU Special Collections Center co-locates services for all our special collections, including the Fales Library, the Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, and the University Archives. NYU Libraries’ special collections and archives house significant resources, rare books, personal papers, University history, and more.

The Fales Library, comprising nearly 200,000 volumes, close to 9,000 linear feet of archive and manuscript materials, and about 65,000 media elements, houses the Fales Collection of rare books and manuscripts in English and American literature, the Downtown Collection, the Food and Cookery Collection, the Riot Grrrl Collection, and the general Special Collections of the NYU Libraries.

Other local repositories

Columbia University Rare Book & Manuscript Library
The range of collections in RBML span more than 4,000 years and comprise rare printed works, cylinder seals, cuneiform tablets, papyri, and Coptic ostraca; medieval and renaissance manuscripts; as well as art and realia. Some 500,000 printed books and 14 miles of manuscripts, personal papers, and records form the core of the RBML holdings. The history of printing, graphic arts, and the performing arts are strengths of RBML.
New York Public Library Berg Collection of English and American Literature
The original collection, confined primarily to Charles Dickens and William Makepeace Thackeray, with selected highlights of English literature, numbered 3,500 items. It has grown through acquisitions and gifts to include some 35,000 printed items and 115,000 manuscripts, covering the entire range of English and American literature. Recent acquisitions include the archives of writers Vladimir Nabokov, Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, Terry Southern, and Annie Proulx.
The Morgan Library & Museum
Pierpont Morgan's immense holdings ranged from Egyptian art to Renaissance paintings to Chinese porcelains. For his library, Morgan acquired illuminated, literary, and historical manuscripts, early printed books, and old master drawings and prints. To this core collection, he added the earliest evidence of writing as manifested in ancient seals, tablets, and papyrus fragments from Egypt and the Near East. Morgan also collected manuscripts and printed materials significant to American history.

Locating Special Collections and Archives

Archive Finder This link opens in a new window
Archive Finder is a current directory which describes thousands of collections of primary source material housed in repositories across the United States, the United Kingdom and Ireland.
ArchiveGrid This link opens in a new window
ArchiveGrid is a listing of archival collections across the world. Users can search nearly a million collection descriptions from thousands of libraries, museums, and archives. Researchers searching ArchiveGrid can learn about the many items in each of these collections, contact archives to arrange a visit to examine materials, and order copies.
WorldCat - FirstSearch (OCLC) This link opens in a new window
Search for books and more in libraries in the U.S. and around the world. Indicates when NYU Libraries holds a copy of a book and shows you nearby libraries with holdings.