Religion Collections in Libraries and Archives: A Guide to Resources in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia Table of Contents - Preface/Acknowledgements - Abbreviations Lists of Entries: District of Columbia - Maryland - Virginia

Center for Hellenic Studies Library

Access Policies

Open with restrictions; previous permission by telephone or letter is necessary. The collection is highly specialized. Genealogists will find other libraries more appropriate. The library staff directs enquiries to local libraries when appropriate, but specific titles not found at other libraries may be consulted at the Center.

Reference Policy:

Telephone and mail reference questions are accepted.

Borrowing Privileges:

Only resident research faculty may borrow books.

Networks/Consortia:

OCLC, CAPCON. Holdings for the collection are listed on OCLC and HOLLIS, Harvard's online system available through the Internet.

Background Note:

The Center for Hellenic Studies, under the trusteeship of Harvard University, opened in 1961. The core of the Library is the personal library of Professor Werner Jaeger of Harvard University. Each year 10 mid-career faculty are chosen to do research at the Center for the upcoming academic year.

Description of Collections

Books and monographs:

The collection holds approximately 4,000 books. Primary literature includes the complete works and fragments of ancient Greek writers, collections of inscriptions, and papyrological fragments from the earliest times of writing. Secondary literature in the collection is primarily from the 19th and 20th centuries. Strengths of this collection include the classical world of Greece; Asia Minor; the Greek colonies of the ancient world; classical Italy; in some cases, the Near East; and pagan, early Christian, and all other forms of religion found in early civilizations.

All holdings are covered on HOLLIS, the Harvard computerized catalog as well as by a card catalog on-site at the Center for Hellenic Studies Library.

Periodicals and newspapers:

200 subscriptions, 12,500 volumes from the 19th century to the present covering classical civilization. Most of these have some coverage pertaining to religion. Strengths of this collection are the same as those above for monographs. The general subjects of classical philology, ancient history, classical art, and archaeology include treatment of religion and philosophy.

L'Année Philologique: Bibliographie Critique et Analytique de l'Antiquité Greco-Latine (Paris: Societé d'édition "Les Belles Lettres", 1924- ) is a good source for the articles in these journals.

Archives, manuscripts, correspondence, and oral histories:

The collection contains all authoritative Greek and Latin payrological and epigraphical series and sets relevant to classical studies. These cover the ancient world and are in book or microform.

HOLLIS covers the cataloging of these items; L'Année Philologique is the main finding aid.

Microforms:

There are 2 major sets in microform. These are Series Papyrology on Microfiche: 1st Series and Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum.

Databases, CD-ROMS, and other machine-readable resources:

Thesaurus Linguæ Græcæ--a concordance to all texts extant including the period of early Christianity.

Subject Headings