John Hay Library at Brown University - Providence, Rhode Island
Posted by: 
401Photos
N 41° 49.584 W 071° 24.284
19T E 300298 N 4633297
The only Andrew Carnegie-sponsored library in the Ocean State is John Hay Library at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. A grant of $150,000 USD was made on March 30, 1905. It is now home to the University's 250-plus Special Collections.
Waymark Code: WM15DNN
Location: Rhode Island, United States
Date Posted: 12/14/2021
Views: 1
The only Andrew Carnegie-sponsored library in the Ocean State is John Hay Library at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. A grant of $150,000 USD was made on March 30, 1905. Currently one of five branches on campus, it served as the school's main library for more than half a century.
The Hay transitioned to housing its Special Collections in 1964, which now number 3 million items in more than 250 separate collections. One small but well known collection is of four anthropodermic books. Those volumes, gifts to the university in the 1960s, are bound in human skin. Along with the Brown University Archives, the collections include:
- H. P. Lovecraft Collection – personal manuscripts and letters from the American writer of weird, science, fantasy, and horror fiction; the library houses the largest collection of Providence native Lovecraft materials in the world
- Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection – graphics, books and miniature soldiers
- Henry David Thoreau Collection – books from personal library and journal manuscripts
- George Orwell Collection – includes the original manuscript of Nineteen Eighty-Four – Orwell's only surviving literary manuscript
- A William Shakespeare First Folio
- King George III’s copy of Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia
- 27 Mesopotamian clay tablets and cones
Some history of the library, via Wikipedia:
By the early 1890s, Brown's 1878 library building had become insufficient in housing the university's growing collection. In 1906, Andrew Carnegie contributed $150,000 (equivalent to $4.32 million in 2021) towards the construction of a new library building. At Carnegie's request, the library was named in honor of his late companion Secretary of State John Hay (Class of 1858).
The building was constructed to a design by the Boston architectural firm of Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge in the Beaux Arts style. The structure was initially intended to be built of limestone, though was ultimately constructed of white marble quarried in Dorset, Vermont. The library was opened on September 24 and dedicated on November 10, 1910.
In 1939 a new wing was constructed to the north of the original building. The addition was designed by Coolidge, Shepley, Bullfinch and Abbott in the Georgian style and constructed of red brick. As part of the renovation, the main reading room was split into three areas by bookshelves.
The John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library became Brown's main library in 1964, with the John Hay Library retaining the university's special collections. The library provided temporary quarters for the Physical Sciences Library until the Sciences Library was built in 1971. The John Hay Library was completely renovated and rededicated on September 21, 1981. A major renovation of the library headed by Selldorf Architects began in 2013. The building was closed on June 1, 2013, and reopened in Fall 2014. The renovation reconfigured the library's main floor, doubled the exhibition space, and returned the main reading room to its original design.
As of this post (December 2021): The library is only open to current Brown students, faculty, staff, and and external researchers with an appointment. It is not open to the public during the fall semester.