Special Collections

Narrator: The north corridor on the third floor of the library houses several unique collections of rare books, manuscripts, photographs, and other primary sources from English and American literature. Although access to the reading rooms for each collection requires a consultation and appointment, the Library invites scholars, artists, writers, and other curious patrons to explore these valuable resources.

An arch carved with floral designs marks the entrance to the north corridor. In the bay of the arch is a bust of Victory, represented as a woman with an oak leaf crown. The corridor has painted walls lined with marble up to about waist-high and marble doorframes. It leads through the Rayner Special Collections Wing and the Stokes Gallery. The corridor and gallery often display rotating exhibitions.

As you make your way through this wing, you’ll encounter two special collections rooms, where you may find researchers at work.

On the left, a sign hanging over a wooden door with a rectangular window announces Room 319. Gold letters on the glass read: Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle. This collection focuses on British Romanticism in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, in particular the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and the novelist Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, author of Frankenstein. Through the window is a room decorated with antique furniture, glass-enclosed bookshelves, paintings, and sculptures.

Farther along on the right is Room 320. Gold lettering on the window in the wooden door reads: Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature. This archive features first editions, manuscripts, letters, and other memorabilia from the 15th to 21st centuries. The window offers a view into a wood-paneled room. Bookshelves surround tables with high-backed chairs, and paintings hang on the walls.

Interpretive commentary follows.

Alison Stewart: The north end of the third floor, called the Rayner Special Collections Wing, is home to some very interesting things.

First, the hallway itself hosts temporary exhibitions often drawn from the Library’s collections. Past exhibitions include a celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall riots, a selection of rare prints by American artist Mary Cassatt, and a range of photographs of Latin America dating back as far as the 1860s. Also on display have been recent acquisitions, stories about how authors and artists have used Library collections to create new work, and much more.

Also in this hall, you’ll find a door on either side: one leading to the Berg Collection of English and American Literature; the other to the Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle. These are two of the Library’s several special collections.

What exactly is a “special collection”? Julie Golia.

Julie Golia: Put simply, special collections are groups of items that are unique, unusually rare, or valuable. These might include rare books, manuscripts, archives, maps, photographs, prints, or art. They’re made available to researchers in reading rooms with special rules and conditions to ensure the safety and preservation of these important collections.

Alison Stewart: The special collections hold some of the world’s most significant literary treasures, including rare editions, like Shakespeare’s First Folio; and handwritten or typed drafts of well-known novels, poems, and plays… many with the author’s own corrections and changes.

Also available are diaries, notebooks, and letters—written by and to authors—that give us behind-the-scenes insights into their lives and works. A great deal of the papers housed within these rooms are unpublished, unavailable in any book or online. The information they contain simply cannot be accessed anywhere else on Earth.

And because objects can often allow us to feel more connected to people of the past, the special collections preserve many authors’ personal belongings: their typewriters, their family photos, articles of their clothing—even, in some cases, locks of their hair! And other surprises…

Julie Golia: I’m particularly drawn to the papers of Vladimir Nabokov, the 20th-century novelist, not just because of the records that document his remarkable career as a writer but also because he was a great lover and studier of butterflies, and included in the collection are his exquisite drawings of various species of butterflies.

Alison Stewart: Want to learn more, or even see some of these remarkable items for yourself? Consult with a librarian to make an appointment.

In the meantime, you can go downstairs to the Polonsky Exhibition of the Library’s Treasures, where some of the most extraordinary items from various special collections are displayed on a rotating basis. Among them are books, manuscripts, and personal effects of authors like Charles Dickens, Maya Angelou, Virginia Woolf, James Baldwin, Charlotte Brontë, T.S. Eliot, Jorge Luis Borges, James Joyce—and many more.