1950 to 1970

  • René Descartes, Renatus des Cartes de Homine figuris (Lugduni Batuorum [Leyden]: Apud Franciscus Moyardum & Petrum Leffen, 1662).
    In this work Descartes posited that much human behavior can be explained by mechanical responses rather than the actions of the soul. Through a better knowledge of the mechanics of the body, he hoped to cure and prevent disease, and even to slow aging.
    Albert E. Lownes, who donated this copy of De Homine Figuris, became over time one of the John Hay's greatest benefactors, especially of significant books in the history of science. The Lownes Collection contains fifteen first/early editions by Descartes alone. Lownes Collection of Significant Books in the History of Science. Gift of Albert E. Lownes, Class of 1920.
  • John Dee, A True and Faithful Relation of What Passed for Many Years Between Dr. John Dee…and Some Spirits (London: D. Maxwell for T. Garthwait, 1659).
    John Dee was an important figure illustrative of the duality of scholarly scientific and magical thought at the time when magic was beginning to be discredited. Highly regarded in his day as a mathematician and astronomer, Dee served as an advisor and tutor to Queen Elizabeth, thereby playing an active role in contemporary English intellectual and political spheres. Especially later in life, Dee attempted to commune with angels in his pious efforts to understand divine "pure verities" which underlie the visible world. He believed he had succeeded in this quest and the True and Faithful Relation, published posthumously, was the first public revelation of his spirit communions. Meric Casaubon, who compiled the book, sought to discredit Dee in his preface, not on the basis of scientific fact but by claiming that Dee had been communicating with evil spirits, not angels. John William Graham Collection of Literature of Psychic Science. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. S. Rowland Morgan in honor of Curt J. Ducasse, Professor of Philosophy and Natural Theology.
  • Dirk De Jong, De Walvischvangst, met Veele Byzonderheden Daartoe Betrekkelyk (Amsterdam: Petrus Conradi, 1784-1786).
    De Jong's narrative of whalers in the Arctic, with plates drawn by Hendrik Kobell and engraved by Mathias de Sallieth, is a classic of Dutch whaling literature. Carleton D. Morse Whaling Collection. Gift of Doris C. and Elizabeth A. Morse.
  • Abraham Lincoln, ["Meditation on the Divine Will"] (Autograph manuscript, [September, 1862]).
    One of the few Lincoln manuscripts which John Hay kept for himself was this untitled fragment containing the President's ruminations upon God and the Civil War. Hay later titled it, and printed the text in Abraham Lincoln: A History, written with John Nicolay. The manuscript was presented to the University in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of John Hay's graduation from Brown. John Hay Collection. Gift of John Hay Whitney.
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The Brown University Library acquired its one millionth item, a copy of René Descartes’s early work on physiology, De Homine Figuris et Latinitate Donatus a Florentio Schuyl (Leyden, 1662), as a gift from Albert E. Lownes, Class of 1920, in 1954. This was quickly followed by the donation of The John William Graham Collection of Literature of Psychic Science by Mr. and Mrs. S. Rowland Morgan. These nearly 700 books, pamphlets, and ephemeral materials, assembled by the Morgans over many years, were presented in appreciation of the work in the field of paranormal phenomena by Curt J. Ducasse, Professor of Philosophy and Natural Theology.

In 1951, David A. Jonah, who had been appointed University Librarian in 1949, mobilized The Friends of the Library to support the purchase of Lincoln’s autograph muster roll for the company he led as Captain during the Black Hawk War of 1832. In 1952, a group of 44 manuscript letters written by Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, Class of 1881, to his parents during his undergraduate days, was donated by his daughters.

The Carleton D. Morse Collection of 1,100 books, manuscripts, and periodicals relating to the whaling industry was presented as a memorial by his widow and daughter in 1958. These materials, in combination with similar collections in nearby institutions, provide an outstanding resource for studying the economic, historic, and social influences exercised by the whalers on the development of 18th and 19th century New England.

In 1958, the library celebrated the centennial anniversary of John Hay’s graduation from Brown with a major exhibition featuring his literary, political and personal papers recently donated by his daughter, Alice Hay Wadsworth; his son, Clarence L. Hay; his grandson, the Honorable John Hay Whitney, former Ambassador to Great Britain; a nephew, Senator William Stuart Symington; and other members of their family as well as W. Easton Louttit, Jr., Class of 1925, the University Archivist and avid collector of material by or about John Hay.

  • Roger Williams, A Key into the Language of America (London: Gregory Dexter, 1643).
    A Key into the Language of America is the first English translation of a Native American language, predating the Eliot Indian Bible by 20 years. Gregory Dexter, the printer, was an English Baptist who met Williams when the latter returned to England to secure a charter for Rhode Island. Dexter followed Williams to Providence, and became important in local affairs, including the Presidency of Providence and Warwick and the pastorate of the First Baptist Church. Among his many gifts to the John Hay, W. Easton Louttit donated over 40 Gregory Dexter imprints. Louttit Collection of Gregory Dexter and Early Rhode Island Imprints. Gift of W. Easton Louttit, Class of 1925.
  • Ta 'Amera Maryam [The Miracles of the Virgin Mary] (Ethiopic manuscript, Late 17th century).
    This manuscript book was written on ninety-five leaves of vellum in the Geez language, and contains one of the most popular of Ethiopian texts. The illustration of the Virgin and Child with two angels, shown here, is protected by a purple cloth attached at the top of the leaf. Rare Book Collection. Gift of John M. Crawford, Jr., Class of 1937.
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In 1962, the library also received from W. Easton Louttit, Jr., a collection of early Rhode Island manuscripts, including documents written by Roger Williams and Gregory Dexter, plus an outstanding collection devoted to the legend of the Wandering Jew. The latter is possibly the finest accumulation of books on this theme, of men doomed to suffer by eternal wandering, to be found outside of the Bibliothèque Nationale. It contains over 1,500 volumes featuring works by Goethe, Schiller, Shelley, Feuchtwanger, Edwin Arlington Robinson, and especially Eugène Sue.

For the next two years almost all attention was focused on erecting the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library as the primary center for study of the Humanities and Social Sciences. After its completion and transfer of the main book collections in 1964, the Physical Sciences Library and Special Collections were the only tenants of the John Hay Library. They remained together until the Physical and Biological Sciences collections were consolidated in the new Sciences Library at the end of 1971.

The shelves of the John Hay Library quickly began to refill in 1965 as collections were drawn into the vacuum left by books departing for the new main library. W. Easton Louttit, Jr. donated another group of Rhode Island manuscripts and part of his collection of books and manuscripts written by Henry Adams, a close friend of John Hay. From Mrs. William V. A. Hansen the library received a choice selection of rare books including five incunabula and a dozen 16th century tracts by Martin Luther and Ulrich von Hutten. In addition, a 17th century Ethiopic manuscript, The Miracles of the Virgin Mary, illustrated with paintings depicting scenes from the New Testament, was received as part of a continuing series of gifts from John M. Crawford, Jr., Class of 1937.

  • Left: John Buchan, cover of The Thirty-Nine Steps (Edinburgh: W. Blackwood, 1915).
    Right: John Buchan, title page from The Man and the Book: Sir Walter Scott (London, Edinburgh: T. Nelson & Sons, [1925]).
    Today, John Buchan is perhaps best remembered as the author of the mystery novel The Thirty-Nine Steps, but his distinguished career included important government posts in Great Britain, including that of Governor General of Canada between 1935 and 1940. He was also an astonishingly prolific and popular author of fiction, reportage, history, and biography. Brown's two Buchan collections were both given by Lyman G. Bloomingdale, a long-time Library benefactor. Buchan Collection. Gift of Lyman G. Bloomingdale, Class of 1935.
  • Henry David Thoreau, Walden; Or, Life in the Woods (Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1854).
    One of five first editions of Walden in the Lownes Thoreau Collection, this is the first issue of the first edition, containing an advertisement dated April 1854. Although Thoreau is often thought of as a literary figure, Albert Lownes's interest was equally piqued by Thoreau's pioneering work in environmental protection, which related the Thoreau Collection to the Lownes Collection of Significant Books in the History of Science. Lownes Thoreau Collection. Gift of Albert E. Lownes, Class of 1920.
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A gift of printed and manuscript literary and historical works by John Buchan, Lord Tweedsmuir and Governor-General of Canada, was presented in 1966 by Lyman C. Bloomingdale, Class of 1935; the gift was supplemented some 20 years later with a second Buchan collection purchased in its entirety by Mr. Bloomingdale. The Buchan Collection is the best of its kind in the United States and ranks second only to the one maintained by Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada. Later important Bloomingdale gifts included sporting books, books by Ernest Hemingway and the lithographic art of Stow Wengenroth.

In 1967, the library purchased some 100,000 pieces of sheet music from the New York Public Library, thus significantly expanding its already very large holdings. Also in 1967 the Lownes Thoreau Collection was received as a gift from Albert E. Lownes, Class of 1920. It contains first editions for each of Thoreau’s separately published books and pamphlets as well as a virtually complete selection of his contributions to periodicals. Of particular note are a number of annotated volumes from Thoreau’s personal library and original manuscript fragments from his Journals, Maine Woods, and A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers.

Later that year, the Harris Collection, supported by Richard Salomon, Class of 1932, and a group of donors gathered by Rabbi William Braude of Temple Beth-El in Providence, acquired over 1,000 works of Yiddish-American poetry and drama, along with 700 pieces of sheet music and 53 plays and operettas in manuscript from Menache Vaxer, a bookseller in New York. This single purchase provided the library with one of the most significant collections of Yiddish literature and theatre in the United States, a collection that was subsequently augmented by additional gifts, notably with a gift from William Sadowsky via the National Yiddish Book Center.