The Robert B. Haas Family Arts Library Special Collections are composed of materials from the former Art+Architecture and Drama Libraries as well as the Arts of the Book Collection. These previously separate special collections were united in the Special Collections Reading Room beginning in 2008. Rare and unique, modern and contemporary, published and manuscript materials are gathered together to create a resource that includes both research materials about and examples of the arts.

Materials from the former Art+Architecture Library range from contemporary catalogues raisonnes to 18th and 19th century works on artists and architecture. Important collections are the Faber Birren Collection of Books on Color, the Volvelle Collection, the Skowhegan Lecture Archive, and the Yale Bookplate Collection.

Materials from the former Arts of the Book Collection focus on printing, papermaking, typography, and other arts that serve the book. Of particular note are the Fritz Kredel Archive, the Carl P. Rollins Printing Library and Papers, the Fritz Eichenberg Archive, the Richard Minsky Archive, and a broad selection of fine press and artists' books, as well as other intriguingly printed and bound items.

Materials from the former Drama Library document theatrical production through photographic prints, production books, scrapbooks, and ephemera. Highlights include the Rollo Peters Archive, the Rockefeller Theatrical Prints Collection, the Doolittle Collection of Japanese Theatre Prints, and the George Pierce Baker Collection.

Use the tabs above to learn more about selected collections and subject strengths of the Arts Library Special Collections.