Research Guides: Objects as History: From Prehistory to Industrialization: Museum Libraries

Museum Libraries

If you are researching an object in a museum, the museum's library can be a good place to do research.

Materials in museum libraries can only be consulted on site - no borrowing of materials is permitted.

See each library's website to see access policies and to seach library catalogs.

American Museum of Natural History
Completed Library Privileges Form required.
Brooklyn Museum of Art
Especially known for its Egyptian art and the Jan Martense Schenck House
Cooper Hewitt Research Library
The Library and Archives are open to the public by appointment.
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Reading privileges in Watson Library are extended to Museum staff and visiting researchers wishing to do art historical or related research who are college-level and older.
National Museum of the American Indian
The New York location of the museum does not have a library, but the librarians at The Vine Deloria, Jr library might be able to provide email assistance for your research.
New-York Historical Society
All researchers are required to register before requesting materials via a Collections Request Account.
MoMA Library
The MoMA Manhattan Library is open to the public Tuesday–Friday, 11:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m., by appointment or via library card.