| Phone Numbers: |
| (617) 496-5153 |
| Fax | (617) 496-4111 |
|
| Email Addresses: |
|
| Address: | Harvard Divinity School
45 Francis Avenue
Cambridge MA 02138
|
| Access Policy: |
| Open by appointment. |
| Open to all. |
|
|
| Extent of Collections: | 5300 linear feet |
| Dates: | 1553-present |
| Holdings Description: | The collections in the Manuscripts/Archives Dept. fall into five main categories:
Unitarian Universalist Institutional Records. Based upon the long-standing relationship between the Divinity School and the American Unitarian movement, the Manuscripts and Archives Department serves as the institutional archives for the Unitarian Universalist Association and the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee and their predecessor agencies.
Unitarian Universalist Congregational Records. This department collects the historical records of non-active Unitarian Universalist congregations, as well as the records of a small number of active UU congregations
Personal Papers. This department collects the papers of Harvard Divinity School tenured faculty members and Unitarian Universalist ministers. The papers of other individuals who have made noteworthy contributions to the Divinity School, Unitarian Universalism, or to the field of religion in general are accepted on an individual basis.
Harvard Divinity School Records. The bulk of the official records of the Harvard Divinity School may be found at the Harvard University Archives. This department collects the unofficial records of the School which includes newsletters, reports and program brochures, as well as audiovisual materials such as posters, photographs, and video recordings.
Records of Other Religious Institutions. The records of other religious institutions are accepted on an individual basis. Some of the collections which we currently house are the records of the Society for Art, Religion, and Contemporary Culture, and the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education. |
| History: | Religious books have a long and important history at Harvard. Almost three-fourths of John Harvard's gift in 1638 of 400 volumes were theological. In the first printed catalog of the College Library (1723), two-thirds of the 3,500 titles were on the subject of religion. When the Library burned in 1764, half of the 404 books that had been charged out (and thus saved from the flames) were religious books. Theological books comprised thirty percent of the College Library catalog in 1830.
Andover-Harvard Theological Library was formed by an agreement in 1910 that brought together the collections of Harvard Divinity School and Andover Seminary in the fall of 1911 in the newly completed Andover Hall. This new facility included a reference and reading room (now the Sperry Room) and a fireproof stack for about 200,000 volumes, capable of indefinite enlargement. There were about 100,000 books not including the extensive pamphlet collections. When the educational partnership of the schools was dissolved in 1926, Andover's books remained in this library. They remain here today as the property of Andover Newton Theological School under the terms of an agreement between Andover Newton and Harvard.
Modern development of the library has resulted from the rejuvenation of the Divinity School since World War II. James Tanis (librarian 1957-65) first made an active manuscript program one of the important responsibilities of the library. During her first term as librarian (1965-73), Maria Grossmann built up the library's Unitarian Universalist manuscript collections and appointed the first curator of manuscripts. In 1970 the archives of the American Unitarian Association from the l9th century and much of the 20th was added. In 1976, the library of the Universalist Historical Society, including the archives of the Universalist Church of America and of the Service Committee was donated.
In the past three decades, major grant funding spurred processing of some of the library’s most prominent archival collections enhancing the research and academic value of the library’s primary resources. During the 1970’s and 1980’s a National Endowment of the Humanities grant funded processing of the Paul Tillich Archive. During the same time period a grant from North Shore Unitarian Veatch Program of Plandome, New York produced a preliminary survey and arrangement of the Service Committee archives. In 1992 and 1994, two grants from the NHPRC funded processing of - and a records management program for - the UUA and the Service Committee archives. These NHPRC grants helped the library and the two donating institutions to set up systems of transferring systematically future increments of UUA and UUSC records, aiding in the library’s role as institutional archives for these independent institutions.
|
| Printed Guides & Catalogs: | Printed guides and inventories are produced, maintained, and available for consultation at the repository. |
| Online Guides & Catalogs: | All processed collections are cataloged on HOLLIS. Approximately seventy percent of collection inventories (850 collections) are available at a library web site:
http://www.hds.harvard.edu/library/bms/bmsind1.html. As part of an ongoing project, about 30 collection inventories and guides have been created in SGML format and added to Harvard’s OASIS web page: http://oasis.harvard.edu.
|
| Contact for permission to publish requests: | Curator of Manuscripts and Archives
Andover-Harvard Theological Library
45 Francis Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
|
| Reproduction services: |
| Microfilming Services. |
| Photographic reproduction services. |
| Printing from microfilm. |
| Photocopying facilities available after consultation with curator. |
|
| Items allowed in Reading Room: |
| Tape Recorders |
| Cameras |
| Laptops |
|
|
