Yale University Library Research Guides: Slavic, East European and Central Asian Research Guide: Collection History

History of the Collection

The Yale University Library Slavic & East European Collection was created in 1896 with the donation of 6,000 volumes acquired by Joel Sumner Smith, the Associate Librarian of the Yale College Library. This foundational collection was carefully curated and brought to Yale a strong core of 19^th century Slavic books and serials. Smith's original collection has been digitized.

More detailed overviews of the history of the collection can be found in:

Joel Sumner Smith, American Pioneer of Slavic Librarianship
Paper presented by Tatjana Lorkovic, former Yale Slavic Librarian, at the Convention of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, Salt Lake City, Utah, 5 November 2005.
The Past as Prologue: Building YUL's Slavic and East European Collection from the Beginning of the Twentieth Century until Today
Paper by Tatjana Lorković. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of the Slavic and East European Collection at the Yale University Library during the twentieth century and to offer some projections and thoughts about its future. The paper focuses on several questions. First, how did the collection grow--by purchase, exchanges, donations, and/or gifts? Second, what were the motivations of the librarians interested in developing the collection? Finally, what was the connection between the historical events of the twentieth century and the importance of the Slavic studies collection at Yale?

P.O. BOX 208240
New Haven, CT
06250-8240
(203) 432-1775

Yale

@YALELIBRARY

image of the ceiling of sterling memorial library

Slavic, East European and Central Asian Research Guide: Collection History

History of the Collection

Joel Sumner Smith (1830-1903)

Site Navigation

Yale's Libraries