The Berlin Collection consists of nearly 100,000 books and manuscripts on a wide range of topics including Renaissance humanism, classical philology, the history of science and technology, and the German Enlightenment. It was purchased en bloc from the stock of S. Calvary and Company bookshop in Berlin in 1891 with the financial support of nine Chicago businessmen by the first University President, William Rainey Harper. The New York Times deemed the acquisition “one of the largest book deals ever consummated in America,” making the University Library the largest in the city, and by 1896, the second-largest university collection in the United States.
The broad coverage of the collection established the Library as an important resource, particularly for the study of classics, current history, theology and church and art history. This rapidly achieved status was used by Harper to push the issue of building construction, lure faculty, and to give a sense of stability to the new University. The books represent the grander aspirations of the Library and the University, aiming to place it at its foundation among the company of the eminent seats of European learning.
There is no complete or partially complete list of books in the Berlin Collection. The collection is located in both the circulating collections and Special Collections.
Browse identified books from the Berlin Collection in the Library Catalog. Special Collections regularly adds to this list as additional books from the Berlin Collection are identified.
For more information on the history of this collection, see The Berlin Collection (Exhibition January, 1979—The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center).
