Facilities — Libraries

The Yale University Library consists of the central libraries—Sterling Memorial Library, the Cross Campus Library, the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, and the Seeley G. Mudd Library—and thirty school and department libraries, as well as small collections within each of the twelve residential colleges. Second largest among the university libraries in the United States, the Yale University Library contains more than ten million volumes, half of which are in the central libraries. Students have access to the collections in all the libraries at Yale.

The Irving S. Gilmore Music Library contains approximately 70,000 scores and parts for musical performance and study; 50,000 books about music; 25,000 LP recordings and compact discs; 7,500 microfilms of music manuscripts and scores; 45,000 pieces of sheet music; 50,000 photographs; 4,000 linear feet of archival materials; 500 individual music manuscripts not forming a portion of a larger collection; and 375 active subscriptions to music periodicals. The collection has been designed for scholarly study and reference, as well as to meet the needs of performing musicians. Fundamental to both purposes are the great historical sets and collected editions of composers' works, of which the library possesses all significant publications. Special areas of collecting include theoretical literature of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries; chamber works of all periods for various instrumental combinations; an extensive collection of musical iconography, including 35,000 photos in the Fred Plaut Archives; the Galeazzi collection of Italian manuscripts; the manuscripts and papers of Leroy Anderson, Paul Bekker, Lehman Engel, Henry Gilbert, Benny Goodman, John Hammond, Thomas de Hartmann, Vladimir Horowitz, J. Rosamond Johnson, John Kirkpatrick, Ralph Kirkpatrick, Goddard Lieberson, Ted Lewis, Red Norvo, Harold Rome, Carl Ruggles, E. Robert Schmitz, Franz Schreker, Deems Taylor, Alec Templeton, Virgil Thomson, and Kurt Weill; the manuscripts of Leo Ornstein and Hershy Kay; and the works of noted composers formerly associated with Yale University as teachers or students. The last-named area includes the complete manuscript collection of Charles E. Ives, B.A. 1898; the collection of documents concerning Paul Hindemith's career in the United States; and the complete papers and manuscripts of David Stanley Smith, Horatio Parker, Richard Donovan, and Quincy Porter . The library also houses the extensive Lowell Mason Library of Church Music, noted for its collection of early American hymn and tune books. Individual manuscript holdings include autograph manuscripts of J.S. Bach, Frederic Chopin, Johannes Brahms, Robert Schumann, and Franz Liszt.

Access to the Music Library's holdings is available through Orbis, the Yale library's online catalogue. All of the Music Library's published scores, books, and compact discs have been entered into the Orbis database. Access to some recordings, microforms, and manuscript materials is only available in the specialized card catalogues in the Music Library lobby.

The holdings of the Irving S. Gilmore Music Library are complemented by other collections in the Yale library. Chief among these is the Historical Sound Recordings collection. Historical Sound Recordings currently holds more than 150,000 rarities that date back to the very beginning of sound recording and continue up to the present day. Collections in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale, particularly the Speck Collection of Goethiana, the Yale Collection of American Literature, and the Osborn Collection, also hold valuable music materials. Students in the School of Music may also use the facilities of any of the other University libraries, whose total number of volumes is over 10 million; annual accessions are approximately 157,000 volumes.

Another resource for Institute students is the Divinity Library, containing more than 430,000 volumes. Its primary strengths are in missions, Christian doctrine, biblical literature, church history, archival materials, and papers and collections, including the Lowell Mason Collection of Hymnology. The Mason Collection was recently catalogued and made accessible to students and scholars through a grant from the Institute of Sacred Music.

The Institute of Sacred Music maintains several small collections. These include a choral lending library of more than 1,000 holdings, the Clarence Dickinson Organ Library, and a slide collection pertinent to the curriculum of the Institute.

Academics | Admissions | Alumni | Works | Listen | Look | Contact | Index | Home | Yale University

Copyright © 2003-2005.  Yale Institute of Sacred Music
409 Prospect Street,   New Haven, Connecticut 06511
Telephone: 203 432 5180    Fax: 203 432 5296