Center for Research Libraries Highlighted Literature Materials
The Center for Research Libraries is an international consortium of university, college, and independent research libraries. CRL supports advanced research and teaching in the humanities, sciences, and social sciences by preserving and making available to scholars critical primary source material.
View collections of literature resources available via CRL which can be requested via Interlibrary Loan.
Primary Document Resources Outside CUNY
- Archive GridSearchable database containing over 7 million records describing archival collections in 1,400 libraries, archives, museums, and historical societies around the world. Also useful for identifying archival repositories by location. Read more in our GC Library blog post about ArchiveGrid.
- British LibraryOne of world's largest collections of primary documents.
- Fales Library NYUOpen by appointment, the Fales Library has extensive archival and special collections. Finding aids are available online.
- Folger Shakespeare LibraryWorld's largest collection of Shakespeare materials and other resources related to the Renaissance.
- Harry Ransom Center, University of TexasLarge collection of manuscripts in the humanities.
- Library of CongressOne of the world's largest collections of primary and secondary material.
- The Morgan LibraryMaterials related to the history, literature, and art of the Western world. Use of the library is by appointment. In addition, an application form must be completed.
- NYPL Special CollectionsIn addition to the Manuscript & Archives Division there are numerous special collections that also contain primary source materials.
- Umbra Search African American HistoryUmbra Search African American History brings together more than 500,000 digitized materials from over 1,000 libraries and archives across the country.
Umbra Search pays homage to the Umbra Society of the early 1960s, a renegade group of Black writers and poets who helped create the Black Arts Movement.
Visiting Other Libraries
- Other CUNY LibrariesAll CUNY students and faculty have access to all CUNY libraries and may check out books at all but CUNY Law. Reference books, special collections, audiovisual materials, and electronic resources may be used only within these libraries.
- Metro Referral CardsAsk at the reference desk on the second floor of the Graduate Center library for one-time-only passes to New York City area libraries, beyond CUNY.
If items are available at a CUNY library, you would use CLICs (Inter-library borrowing) or visit that library in person; Metro Cards are used for one-time to access beyond CUNY's collections. For longer access, see MaRLI above. - MaRLI (Manhattan Research Library Initiative)This research initiative allows selected researchers access and circulation privileges at Columbia University, New York University, and New York Public Library's research libraries.