Architectural History of Sterling Memorial Library

Manuscripts and Archives

Manuscripts and Archives Reading Room Interior, 1963

Sterling Memorial Library’s Rare Book Room -- now the department of Manuscripts and Archives -- housed Yale’s collection of rare books and manuscripts from Sterling’s opening until 1963, when the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library opened. Yale has accumulated books from the time of the college’s founding in 1701. Yale’s original library, called the 1742 Library due to its catalog’s publication date, moved throughout campus over the centuries: to the college’s first New Haven building and then to the Athenaeum, then to the top floor of the Lyceum in 1804, then to Linsly Hall in the early 20th century, and then to Sterling Memorial Library in 1930. In Sterling the 1742 Room, located above what is now the International Room, housed books that were identified in the original 1742 catalog. Some other special collections (e.g., the Speck Collection of Goetheana) had dedicated spaces within Sterling, but the bulk of the library’s rare books and manuscripts were housed in the Rare Book Room. The 1742 Library is now on view at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, as is Yale’s copy of the Gutenberg Bible, which was originally on display in a dedicated space at the back of the Rare Book Room, surrounded by wrought-iron gates created by the blacksmith Samuel Yellin.

The department of Manuscripts and Archives now holds the historical records of Yale University; 4000 video testimonies of Holocaust survivors and witnesses; and personal papers and organization records documenting local, national, and international history from the 16th century to present. Manuscripts and Archives’ subject strengths include Yale University, Connecticut, and New Haven history; American diplomacy, public policy, and politics; medicine and health policy; architecture and city planning; environmental science and activism; legal and judicial history; and LGBTQ history and activism.

Sterling Memorial Library Rare Book Reading Room (now Manuscripts and Archives Reading Room), circa 1930s

Sterling Memorial Library Rare Book Reading Room (now Manuscripts and Archives Reading Room), circa 1930s

Sterling Memorial Library Manuscripts and Archives Reading Room, 2021