Signature Collections arise from Brown’s special collections and present them in enhanced digital form. These collections are chosen for their comprehensiveness and uniqueness, as well as their significant public value.

The Brown University Library makes these collections widely available through a systematic digitization and publishing program. In addition to providing high-quality digital surrogates for the materials within a signature collection, we work with faculty and students to develop contextual information, including essays, timelines, biographies, and historical vignettes, through which the user may better understand the materials.

We welcome ideas and proposals from anyone interested in working with or contributing to a digitized signature collection; please contact us for more information.

See a full list of signature collections.