Wilbour Library upon Its Completion in 1934
The Wilbour Library of Egyptology has now been moved to an environmentally controlled space that provides custom shelving for the collections, improved work areas and a new reading room. The Wilbour collections are installed in a discrete area of the stacks separate from the other Library collections. This is the first phase of a plan to refurbish the area in which the Wilbour Library was previously stored and discussions are underway for the new Wilbour Library space that will offer a variety of strong resources on the study of Ancient Egypt.
The Wilbour Library of Egyptology in The Brooklyn Museum is the most comprehensive Egyptological collection in the western hemisphere, and perhaps the largest in the world as well, rivaled only by the combined research libraries in Cairo. The collection covers the cultural history, art, and archaeology of Egypt from its palaeolithic beginnings up to the Islamic Period, with small collections for the cultures of Greece and Rome. Although its facilities were originally designed to accommodate about 12,000 volumes, today the collection numbers close to 50,000 books, bound periodicals and pamphlets. It is open by appointment to scholars and graduate students in Egyptology, as well as to anyone interested in doing serious research on some aspect of Ancient Egyptian culture.
The nucleus of the Library's resources was provided by a bequest made to The Brooklyn Museum in 1916 by the heirs of Charles Edwin Wilbour (1883-1896), a pioneer American Egyptologist whose personal library had been built up from purchases as well as gifts from the eminent Egyptologists of his day. Upon the death of Wilbour's son, Victor, in 1931, the Museum's Wilbour collection received the residue of his estate as the Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund. With the income from these funds it was possible to provide separate and permanent home for the Wilbour Library of Egyptology within The Brooklyn Museum. The firm of Howe Lescaze, Architects, was commissioned to design the Charles Edwin Wilbour Memorial Library Room, using space which was formerly a gallery. On November 23, 1934, the room was opened with a preview for Museum members and their friends, and a large group of librarians. The Wilbour Library, an integral partner of the Department of Egyptian, Classical and Ancient Middle Eastern Art, was placed directly above the Art Reference Library with a connecting elevator.
In 1963 the first issue of the Wilbour Library Acquisitions List appeared as a supplement to no. 48 of the Newsletter of the American Research Center in Egypt. This project, originally envisioned by Bernard V. Bothmer and implemented by Mrs. Rose Beck Shapiro and Mrs. Nancy B. Sussmann, former Wilbour Librarians, was continued by The Brooklyn Museum between 1966 and 1972. Between 1973 and 1979 the University of Cambridge cooperated with Barry Kemp in Egyptology Titles. During most of the 1980s the University of Cambridge published it with the Universität Heidelberg. The computer age arrived in the late 1980s, and the University of Cambridge, in collaboration with former Wilbour Librarian Diane Bergman, began to produce and distribute the Acquisitions List using RBase on a PC. Wilbour Library Acquisitions, 1995-2003 is accessible online via the Egyptology Resources website in the Newton Institute in Cambridge. Monthly distribution of the Wilbour Library acquisition lists is also available by e-mail request to the Librarian: library@brooklynmuseum.org.
Created and Maintained by Dr. Edward K. Werner
©2008 Edward K. Werner
Last updated: October 15, 2008