Facts about Brown
Libraries, Museum, and Gallery
An invaluable resource to students and faculty, the University library system contains more than 6 million items, including bound volumes, periodicals, maps, sheet music, and manuscripts. The number of items grows by more than 100,000 each year. In addition, the Library provides access to a wide range of material available via the Internet.
- The John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library is Brown’s primary humanities and social-sciences resource center.
- The Sciences Library houses the University’s collection of science and medical books and periodicals and the University's media services operation.
- The John Hay Library houses special collections, including most of the University’s rare books, manuscripts, and archives.
- The John Carter Brown Library houses the world’s preeminent collection of Americana, both North and South, from before 1825.
- The Orwig Music Library houses the general music collection including the Walter Neiman Archive of Sound Recordings and more than 24,000 scores.
- The Art Slide Library houses instructional and research images for visual art, architecture and archaeology.
The University’s Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology is located in historic Bristol, Rhode Island, along the shores of Mount Hope Bay, and houses more than 100,000 artifacts from the Americas, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. Recognized as one of the leading anthropological teaching museums in the Northeast, the Haffenreffer offers public lectures, performances, festivals, summer camps, educational programs for children, and a broad range of related programs and events. The Haffenreffer’s satellite location in Manning Hall on Brown’s College Green features one major exhibit, which changes annually and is co-curated by students, museum staff, and faculty.