Library Overview

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Libraries include five major subject libraries: architecture and planning; engineering; humanities; management and social sciences; and science; as well as several more specialized branch libraries. The libraries maintain and support numerous special collections.

The Institute Archives and Special Collections documents the history of MIT, from its founding in 1861 to the present day. In addition to the administrative records of MIT, the archives maintains the theses collection consisting of over 100,000 theses; MIT publications related to MIT research, teaching, and community activity; and a variety of oral history collections. The archives is one of the primary resources for the study of the development of 20th-century science and engineering, and has been entrusted with the personal papers of some of the most brilliant minds in the world, past and present.

In addition to its vast collection of archives, the MIT Libraries steward rare book collections, including an impressive array in areas of 16th through early 20th-century science and technology. These include the Vail Collection, an outstanding assemblage of thousands of books and pamphlets in the area of electricity, and the Gaffield Collection, comprised of works relating to glassmaking. Other collections document the development of a broad range of science and technology, such as aeronautics, ballooning, and civil engineering.

The Rotch Library for Architecture and Planning contains a variety of European publications dating from the 16th to the 19th centuries and the professional library of Charles Bulfinch. The Rotch Library also administers the Aga Khan Visual Archive of Islamic Architecture and the Rotch Visual Collection. The Lewis Music Library includes material related to MIT music faculty and recordings of musical activity at MIT, as well as a growing oral history collection.

Less traditional special collections include DSpace@MIT, an institutional repository capturing and preserving the research output of MIT, in digital form, and DOME, the MIT Libraries' digital library.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries
Institute Archives and Special Collections
MIT Libraries, Bldg. 14N-118
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139-4307
http://libraries.mit.edu/archives/
mithistory@mit.edu
(617) 253-5136 (t)
(617) 258-7305 (f)