New York City is home to an abundant amount of special collections and archives. Below is a list of local institutions that might be helpful to your research!

NOTE: University Libraries (NYU, Columbia, FIT) will require a METRO referral card from the BGC Library to consult library books. To consult archival material or special collections, you must make an appointment at each institution. Because all access policies differ, check websites and plan accordingly.

American Museum of Natural History
The Library is open to public researchers with very limited hours. Collection consists of natural science books, journals, archives, photographs, moving images, art and Museum memorabilia.

Brooklyn Historical Society
BHS collects and preserves the most comprehensive collection of materials related to Brooklyn’s history and culture, with holdings of over 33,000 books, 1,600 archival collections, 1,200 oral history interviews, 50,000 photographs, 2,000 maps, 8,000 artifacts, and 300 paintings which document the commercial, residential, community, and civic development of the borough.

Brooklyn Museum
Closed for renovations until Fall 2016.

Columbia University: Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library
Avery’s collection strength lies in architecture, historic preservation, art history, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, city planning, real estate, and archaeology. The Archives have a strong emphasis on New York City and American architecture, containing around 1,500,000 drawings, photographs, letters, and manuscripts relating to architecture and architects.

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum
This branch of the Smithsonian Institution Library contains more than 80,000 volumes, including books, periodicals, catalogs, and trade literature dating from the fifteenth through the twentieth centuries. Only 30% of the collection (including all rare book materials) is on site.

Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT)
FIT’s Library includes books, periodicals, oral histories and designer scrapbooks, as well as unique manuscript collections including original designer sketches. Strength of the collection lies in American fashion design from the late 19th century through the 1970s, Broadway and Hollywood costume design and the history of NYC’s garment district.

Morgan Library
Collection strength includes medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, drawings and prints, literary and historical manuscripts, music manuscripts and printed scores, bindings and printed books, ancient Near Eastern seals and tablets, and art objects.

New York University: Bobst Library

The Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives– Tamiment’s collections document the history of radical politics: socialism, communism, anarchism, utopian experiments, the cultural left, the New Left, and the struggle for civil rights and civil liberties. It is the repository for the Archives of Irish America, the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives, and a growing Asian American labor collection.

Fales Special Collections -The Fales Library comprises of rare books and manuscripts in English and American literature, the Downtown Book Collection, and over 55,000 cookbooks as part of the Food & Cookery Collection.