Amherst College Archives and Special Collections. All rights reserved.
© 2003 Amherst College Archives and Special Collections. All rights reserved.
The Library History Collection, 1850-1965, contains materials compiled by former Librarian Newton F. McKeon. Mr. McKeon assembled these materials to write a history of the Amherst College Library. This history, however, was never written.
The Library History Collection includes McKeon's notes, copies of library reports and records, ephemera dating from the 19th century, and published and unpublished articles and reports about the Amherst College Library. Most of the material focuses on the late 1800's through the early 1910's. Reports describing the spatial needs of the library dating from 1937, 1959, and 1961 are also included.
In general, there is no restriction on access to the Amherst College Library History Collection.
Requests for permission to publish material from the records should be directed to the Archives and Special Collections.
Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:
[Identification of item], in Amherst College Library History Collection [Box #, folder #], Amherst College Archives and Special Collections, Amherst College Library
When the library history material was organized, original library administrative files were removed from the Library History Collection and returned to the Library Records. The bulk of this material was Librarian Robert S. Fletcher's correspondence but also included other material such as the "Blunder Book" and library staff member Sabra Snell's classification procedures. When duplicate items existed, a copy was retained in the Library History Collection.
The Library History Collection is a useful starting point for information on the Amherst College Library's development. More complete and extensive information is located in the Amherst College Library Records.