Introduction
![[Student at desk]. Photographic views of Widener Library, 1913-1988. HUV 49 Box 1, Folder 10](http://libapps.s3.amazonaws.com/accounts/123295/images/422544962.jpg)
This research guide provides an overview to the Harvard University Archives’ collections pertaining to the history of the Harvard Library. With materials dating from the 17th century to the present, these collections document the Library’s history, its place in the life of the University, and its role in American higher education and librarianship. The collections enumerated in this guide include University records, personal papers, serial publications, archived websites, and photographic materials.
Where possible, this guide provides links to online finding aids to those collections cataloged in HOLLIS for Archival Discovery, the online catalog for materials in Harvard's many special collections and archives. If online finding aids do not exist, the guide provides links to collection-level records from HOLLIS, the online library catalog of the Harvard Library. Collections not yet cataloged in HOLLIS are listed with their call numbers.