Cornell University Library: A History of Collections and Innovation
The Cornell University Library stands as a cornerstone of academic life at Cornell, a vast and evolving ecosystem of knowledge resources that has supported generations of students, faculty, and researchers. From its humble beginnings with a small collection of books, it has grown into a major research library, embracing both traditional print resources and cutting-edge digital technologies.
A Legacy of Growth and Vision
The Cornell University Library system initially was a collection of 18,000 volumes stored in Morrill Hall. The library's foundation is deeply rooted in the vision of Cornell's founders, particularly Andrew Dickson White and Daniel Willard Fiske. Daniel Willard Fiske, Cornell's first librarian, and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell University's first president, both willed their entire estates to Cornell University following their deaths. A.D. White, Cornell’s co-founder and first president, was a life-long book collector who believed that extensive collections of primary resources are central to scholarship and teaching. Thanks to White and his first University Librarian, Willard Fiske, the collections grew dramatically in Cornell’s early years. Donated in 1891, White’s own collection of more than 30,000 volumes reflected his interests in architecture, science, religion, literature, and European and American history. Due in large part to White’s collecting passions, today Cornell University Library features the largest collection on the French Revolution outside of Paris, the largest collection in North American on European witchcraft, America’s founding collection on the Abolitionist movement, and one of the country’s leading History of Science Collections. White’s gift was followed by those of Willard Fiske, who donated his collections on Iceland, Dante and Petrarch.
Cornell’s rare book and manuscript collections expanded in the twentieth century to include the world’s second largest collection on William Wordsworth, the Burgunder Collection of George Bernard Shaw, the Nicholas H. Noyes collection of Americana, including a copy of the Gettysburg Address in the hand of Abraham Lincoln, along with the papers of Lafayette, Antoine Lavoisier, James Joyce, Ford Madox Ford, Wyndham Lewis, and E.B. White, to name only a few.
Their commitment to building a comprehensive library collection laid the groundwork for the library's future development, establishing a tradition of philanthropy and a focus on acquiring diverse and significant resources.
Size and Scope: A Comprehensive Academic Resource
As of 2014, it holds over eight million printed volumes and over a million ebooks. More than 90 percent of its current 120,000 periodical titles are available online. The library is administered as an academic division; the University Librarian reports to the university provost. The library system is spread across multiple locations, each with its own area of specialization. The John M. Olin Library is the primary research library for the social sciences and humanities, and the Harold D. Uris Library has extensive holdings in the humanities and social sciences. The Albert R. Mann Library specializes in agriculture, the life sciences, and human ecology. The Carl M.
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Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Cornell University’s rare book and manuscript collections date from the founding of the University in 1865. In 1942 a collection of regional history was created to document everyday life in upstate New York. Cornell’s Department of Rare Books (including literary and historical manuscripts) was founded in 1951. With the acquisition of Ezra Cornell’s papers in 1945, a university archives collecting program was initiated, followed by the official establishment of the Cornell University Archives in 1951. These programs and departments were folded under the administrative management of the newly created Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections in 1991, along with Cornell Library’s History of Science Collections (established 1961) and the Library’s Icelandic Collection.
Cornell’s special collections experienced another major period of expansion from the 1980s onward, with the establishment of the Human Sexuality Collection (1988), the opening of the Carl A. Kroch Library for special collections (1992), the establishment of the Eastern Wine and Grape Archive (1998), the acquisition of the Huntington Free Library Native American Collection (2003), and the arrival of significant collections on the history of women suffrage, Hip Hop culture, the history of photography, and many others. Today, Cornell’s Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections includes 500,000 rare books and more than eighty million manuscripts, photographs, prints, and artifacts.
The Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections is Cornell’s principal repository of rare books, manuscripts and archival materials in history, literature, music, the arts, science, natural history, and technology. Our collections include more than 500,000 printed volumes, more than 80 million manuscripts, and another million photographs, paintings, prints, and other visual media. We offer research and instruction services to support courses and scholarship, and host exhibitions that feature our collections. We welcome researchers and visitors from around the globe.
Cornell University Archives
In December of 1942, in the midst of World War II, Professor Paul Gates of the Cornell University History Department received a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to establish a collection of regional history at Cornell. The collection was created to document everyday life in upstate New York, its families, farms, businesses, churches, schools, and organizations. In 1945, with the acquisition of the Ezra Cornell Papers, a university archives program was initiated. The original Archives holdings documented the founding of Cornell University and its establishment through the sale of western lands. In subsequent years, the papers of early presidents and trustees were added. Later, the collection acquired personal and professional papers of individual faculty members. The Cornell University Archives was authorized by a vote of the University Board of Trustees on June 11, 1951 and officially established on July 1, 1951.
Currently, the Archives collects and preserves records of historical, legal, fiscal, and/or administrative value to Cornell University. Holdings include official records and reports of the university, its officers, and component parts; private papers of faculty, students, staff, and alumni; official and student publications; maps and architectural records; audiovisual materials including still photographs and negatives, motion picture film, oral history interviews, and audio and video tapes; and artifacts and ephemera documenting Cornell’s history. The Archives provides consulting on records retention and management issues and for transfer of materials, as well as providing archival supplies as necessary. Access to unpublished material may be restricted by the office in which the material originated, or by the donor of personal papers. Access to unrestricted material is provided on equal terms to all researchers. The Division supplies information and reference services to university administrators based on its holdings by answering specific requests or by photocopying specific items.
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Rose Goldsen Archive of New Media Art
The Cornell University Library's Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections in Carl A. Rose Goldsen Archive of New Media Art is a research repository for new media art. It was founded in 2002 by Timothy Murray, Professor of Comparative Literature and English and Director of the Society for the Humanities. It is located in the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections at Cornell University Library and it is named in honor of the late Prof. The general collection consists of various material about audio, sound art, eco and bio art, exhibitions, artist compilations, installations, interactive narrative, poetry, online listserv, internet art journals, performance, theory, video art, and cinema. Among the artists whose work can be found in the general collection are Gary Hill, Iimura Takahiko, Ardele Lister, Michael Snow, Janet Cardiff, Chantal Akerman, Jennifer and Kevin McCoy, Shu Lea Cheang, and others.
Apart from the general collection, the Rose Goldsen Archive of New Media Art houses many special collections and fellowship competitions. The Renew Media Fellowships in New Media, an annual competition for interactive dynamic media, was funded by the Rockefeller Foundation in New Media Art from 2002. The Goldsen Archive serves as the repository for the digitized copies of this competition material, such as the proposals, slides, artists' portfolios, other supportive material, etc. The Wen Pulin Archive of Chinese Avant-Garde Art, a collaboration among the Goldsen Archive, the Charles W. The "ETC: Experimental Television Center Archives" is a collection with more than 3,000 artistic video tapes and DVDs. It contains works by artists from both the contemporary and first generation of video art. The Rose Goldsen Archive of New Media Art has served as a repository for the Experimental Television Center's collection (1969-2011), since 2011. Net Art: The Goldsen Archive provides access to a number of internet art collections. (NRPA), the Computerfinearts.com and the Infos 2000.
Because of the fragility and the complexity of the artworks, most of which are born-digital and many of which are interactive, the Archive focuses on building archival strategies that endure the continuous access to all this fragile material. The Goldsen Archive is one of the six international digital art archives dedicated to Preservation and Documentation Strategies; other similar archives are Ars Electronica, Tate Intermedia, FACT, computerfinearts.com (which has its repository in Goldsen Archive) and Rhizome Artbase. In addition, the Archive has signed the International Declaration "Media Art Needs Global Networked Organization and Support", sponsored by Media Art History.
Digital Initiatives and Online Archiving
The library plays an active role in furthering online archiving of scientific and historical documents. It provides stewardship and partial funding for arXiv.org e-print archive, created at Los Alamos National Laboratory by Paul Ginsparg. The Project Euclid initiative, named after Euclid of Alexandria, is a resource joining commercial journals with low-cost independent journals in mathematics and statistics. The project is aimed at enabling affordable scholarly communication through the Internet. The Cornell Library Digital Collections are online collections of historical documents.
Highlights from the Collections
Cornell University Library boasts a remarkable array of rare and significant items, reflecting its commitment to preserving cultural heritage and supporting scholarly research. These include:
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The Gettysburg Address: A copy of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address in his own hand.
Birds of America: A valuable edition of John James Audubon's Birds of America.
Origin of Species: A copy of Charles Darwin's groundbreaking work, Origin of Species.
Book of Mormon: An edition of Book of Mormon.
Pride and Prejudice: An edition of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.
Kinematic Models for Design Digital Library (KMODDL): Movies and photos of hundreds of working mechanical-systems models at Cornell University.
Specialized Collections
The Cornell University Library system houses a number of specialized collections that cater to specific research interests and academic disciplines. These include:
Southeast Asia Collection (Echols): A collection focused on the history, culture, and languages of Southeast Asia.
Ornithology Collections: A descriptive guide to the ornithology collections in the Libraries at Cornell University.
Kroch South Asia Collections: Resources pertaining to South Asia.
The Cornell University Hip Hop Collection: Materials documenting the history and culture of hip hop.
Home Economics Archive: Research, Tradition and History (HEARTH): A collection focused on home economics.
Human Sexuality Collection: A collection dedicated to the study of human sexuality.
Cornell University Library Making of America Collection: A digital library of 19th-century American books and journals.
Race, Ethnicity and Religion: Resources pertaining to race, ethnicity, and religion.
Chinese Avant-garde Art Archive
Lynn Hershman Leeson Archive
Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery Collection
Cornell University Library Witchcraft Collection
While limited space and resources require that collecting is selective in all areas, RMC continues to build upon its collection strengths and continually evaluates opportunities to develop new ones, with a focus on materials in all formats that serve student learning, faculty research, and fuel opportunities for exploration, creativity and scholarly discovery.
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