Manuscripts
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Full inventories and/or extended descriptions of many of the collections are accessible through the "Detailed Holdings" page.
SUMMARY:
Trinity College's Watkinson Library houses many collections of manuscripts, dating roughly from the beginning of the 17th century to the present. Most are American, with the greatest concentration in the 19th century, the period of the Watkinson Library's founding. Major collections, for example, are the papers of writer Charles Dudley Warner (1829-1900), educator Henry Barnard (1811-1900), Hartford musician Nathan H. Allen (1848-1925), and the Watkinson family (1757-1873). The emphasis is on cultural history, with manuscripts complementing the Library's rich printed holdings in Americana.
The unit of measurement is the flat legal size manuscript box. If a collection has been put in accessible order, it is described as "arranged." Finding aids are either catalog cards, in which case a collection is described as "cataloged," inventories (and thus described as "inventoried"), or both. "Not processed" means that nothing has been done to arrange and/or provide finding aids for a collection. The manuscript collections are not included in the Trinity College online catalog.
NOTE: This guide to the manuscript collections does not include the Library's Western European Medieval and Renasissance manuscripts nor its Oriental manuscripts in codex or roll format. It also does not include the holdings of the Trinity College Archives, which shares space with the Watkinson Library.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
More information about the collections may be requested by letter or by e-mail. Addresses are:
The Watkinson Library
Trinity College Library
Hartford, Connecticut 06106
or email Peter.Knapp@trincoll.edu.
ACCESS TO THE COLLECTIONS:
General access to the Library is available to all researchers upon provision of proper identification and, in the case of those who are not members of the Trinity College community, completion of an application form. Watkinson Library hours are Monday through Friday, 9:30-4:30, except for holiday closings and except during the summer. Summer hours are Monday through Thursday, 9:30-4:30, and Friday, 9:30-1:00. Visitors are advised to call the Library at (860)-297-2268 to confirm hours or, in the case of extensive research, to make appointments.
