Smithsonian Libraries and Archives: Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology External

Physical Address: National Museum of American History, Constitution Avenue & 12th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20013, Room 1041

Mailing Address: Smithsonian Libraries and Archives, Dibner Library, National Museum of American History, MRC 672, P.O. Box 37012, Washington, DC 20013

Telephone number: 202-633-3872

Contact information: [email protected]

Online catalog External

Digital Collections link External

Hours of service: Monday – Wednesday – Thursday 10:00 - 5:30 pm.

Open to the public: Yes, by appointment only

Interlibrary loan: No

Reference policy: Reference requests requests are accepted at [email protected]

Background note External

Books and monographs
More than 500 rare books on religion and related subjects from the 15th to the late 19th centuries. The collection is rich in Bibles and Bible portions, Christian theology, and the history of churches of various denominations. Other prominent genres are prayerbooks, sermons, hymnals, psalters, and devotional literature. Works in Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and the Islam are also present.

Periodicals and newspapers
A handful of periodical titles related to religion.

Archives, manuscripts, correspondences, and/or oral histories
Less than fifty bound manuscripts or loose-leaf manuscript groups related to religion from the 10th to the 19th centuries, including medieval missals, an Armenian prayerbook, and an Aramaic Pentateuch

Images
More than 2,000 portraits in format of art prints, (woodcuts, copper and steel engravings, mezzotints, lithographs, etc.), oil paintings, and photographs.

Maps
Ca. 100 primarily 19th-century maps.

Databases and/or electronic resources External

Digital collections External
Incunabula From the Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology (si.edu) External
Scientific Identity: Portraits from the Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology (si.edu) External

Other holdings not listed above
More than 300 incunabula (i.e. books printed before 1501), many related to religion
The Comegys Family Rare Book Collection, including illustrated 19th-century Bibles

Bible; Buddhism; Christianity; Church; Devotional Literature; Hinduism; Hymns; Islam; Judaism; Piety; Prayer; Religion; Theology