Collection Strengths
Strength of History, Size, and
Variety | Subject Strengths | Strength
of Location |
Strength of a Community of Scholarship | Book
Purchases and Donations
"Our Precious Tool of Tools"
Welcome
to the collections of Andover-Harvard Theological Library. The library
serves as one of the preeminent resources for teaching and research in
religion and theology. Many of the traditional book collections are open,
arranged by subject, and fun to browse. You will find many classics in the
field, hard-to-find gems, and even oddities. The collection supports
research at the master's and doctoral levels. It has grown since the
mid-nineteenth century to become one of the largest theological
collections in the United States. Titles are collected in virtually all
western languages. In 1979, Krister Stendahl, in his last report as Dean
of the Harvard Divinity School, called the library "our precious tool
of tools."
The Strength of History, Size, and Variety
The story of religious books at Harvard begins with the founding of Harvard College. Religious books comprised nearly three-quarters of John Harvard's library bequeathed to the College in 1638. By 1852, some years after the Divinity Library was separated from the College Library, the collection stood at 3,495 books. Just eight years later, the total had grown to over 13,000, due primarily to a gift of the library of the Reverend Francis Parkman and to the purchase of the library of Professor G. C. F. Lücke of Göttingen. The latter laid the foundation for the librarys strong collection in German theology. The tradition of enlargement by gifts and regular purchases continues. Today, the library contains almost one half million volumes of books and journals. It also contains microforms, maps, manuscripts, photographs, slides, audio and video cassettes, CDs, and other formats. A collection that was once only printed books is now a collection of books and journals in many formats, including an increasing number of electronic journals and digital collections. Some highlights:
- 485,000 volumes of books, pamphlets, and journals
- almost 2,000 current journal subscriptions
- over 90,000 microforms
- around 30,000 rare books
- 23 incunabula; oldest imprint "not after 1475"
- access to thousands of online electronic resources
- original papers of Paul Tillich
- historical archives of the Unitarian Universalist Association
Subject Strengths
Given its age, size, and depth in languages and formats, the collection is strong in many special subject areas of religion and theology, subject areas that reflect the scholarly interests of donors and faculty and the evolving curriculum of the school. Areas of special strength are:
- Biblical Studies
- Protestant Christianity
- Unitarian Universalism
- Women's Studies in Religion
- Other Notable Subject Areas
In addition, there are many more specialized subject areas of exceptional strength. Examples include Christian ethics, Dead Sea Scrolls, Judaism and Christianity, religious freedom, Gnosticism, early Christianity, religion and politics, and the ecumenical movement. For detailed information on the library's collections by subject areas, see our Collection Development Policy.
The Strength of Location
The collection is further strengthened by its location among the great faculty libraries at Harvard and by its relationship with the member libraries of the Boston Theological Institute. This collection among collections serves as a gateway to the extraordinary resources of the many Harvard Libraries and is best used in conjunction with them.
For example, traditionally, Andover-Harvard Theological Library holds the Protestant collection of the University and Widener Library holds the Catholic. While Andover-Harvard collects reference and secondary literature in English on Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism--increasingly so, given the trends in the curriculum--Widener and the Harvard-Yenching Library hold the major research collections, including titles in non-Roman scripts. While Andover-Harvard collects Judaica and Hebraica titles to support a strong biblical studies program, Widener holds the major collection on Judaism. While Andover-Harvard holds a significant number of rare books in religion and theology, the collection is small in comparison with the rich holdings of Harvard's Houghton Library. Still, it would be a mistake to overlook the AHTL collection in any of these areas. The Protestant Catholic division between Andover-Harvard and Widener is an oversimplification, since Andover-Harvard also collects important reference and secondary literature in Catholicism to serve a substantial number of Catholic students and faculty, while Widener Library holds the more in-depth collection in post-Reformation Catholic Church history, Catholic dogmatics, moral theology, and Catholic social action. Among the libraries of the Boston Theological Institute, Andover-Harvard holds the major collection on Unitarian Universalists, while other BTI libraries hold the major collections on Methodists, Evangelicals, Greek Orthodox, Episcopalians, and so on. Thus a collection strong in its own right is made stronger by access provided to other collections at Harvard, in the Boston area, and beyond. A former Divinity School librarian noted that "if we do not have it here, and we probably do, we can almost always get it for you."
The Strength of a Community of Scholarship
The collection at Andover-Harvard Theological Library reflects the diverse and evolving interests of an outstanding community of scholarship over the course of the School's history. What began as a collection mainly for the study of Protestant Christianity is increasingly becoming a collection for the study of American religious pluralism and religion as a global phenomenon. It has been built over the years with the recommendations and donations of many faculty, students, and staff in addition to the regular selections of librarians. To remain strong it continues to depend on these recommendations and gifts.
Book Purchases and Donations
Please use the Recommendations for Purchase form to inform us about books, journals, videos, DVDs, audio CDs, electronic resources, and other materials that you recommend as additions to the Andover-Harvard Theological Library collections. We appreciate your suggestions, and will consider them within the constraints of our collection development policy and budget.
To make a donation, please contact the Librarian.