Rare books, manuscripts, personal papers, and historic photographs compose a rich collection that gives a fascinating view of the past. The Rare Books and Special Collections Department at CLP-Main is located on the third floor of Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh-Main in Oakland. The environmentally controlled Rare Book Room was developed in 1991 to preserve fragile materials and maintain an institutional archive. Today, the Rare Book Room houses notable collections in Western Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh history, travel, exploration and Americana. Some highlights of the collection include the following: Edward Curtis' North American Indian and Eskimo Photographs; John James Audubon's Birds of America (Bien Edition); first editions in all disciplines; the Margaret Barclay Wilson Collection of Carnegiana; the Carnegie Cartoon Scrapbooks; and Plat Maps and Atlases.
The Water-Babies (1901) by Charles Kingsley
Round the World (1884) by Andrew Carnegie
April Twilights (1903) by Willa Sibert Cather
Wuthering Heights (1942) by Emily Brontë with lithographs by Barnett Freedman
Use this form to request an appointment. Appointments will be confirmed by email by the Rare Books and Special Collections Department.
Donated to the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh in 1980, the Vira I. Heinz Collection highlights Heinz's literary interests, and features popular fiction such as Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, and nonfiction adventures like A Lady's Travels Round the World by Ida Pfeiffer.
The Worthington Collection includes more than 4,000 books divided into two separate collections: the Welsh Library and the Americana Collection, each representing the major interests of its collector, John Worthington. The Library’s collection was established in 1948 and includes books in English and Welsh from Worthington’s library and additional volumes purchased over the years thanks to an endowment from his family.
The Edward D. Frohman Collection contains over 1,700 rare books and first editions. It was willed to the Library in 1936 by Edward “Eddy” David Frohman, known in his own right as a rare book expert. Included in the collection are books especially enjoyed by Frohman such as works by Charles Dickens and Mark Twain, as well as books about book collecting. The collection was donated in memory of Frohman’s parents, Lewis and Fanny Friday Frohman.
The Wilson Collection of Carnegiana includes biographies of Carnegie, published collections of letters he wrote to various newspapers, and reports from some of Carnegie’s steel plants. In 1933, the collection of 347 books and 10 scrapbooks was donated to the Library not by Dr. Wilson, but by Louise Carnegie, Andrew Carnegie’s widow.
The Children’s Historical and Special Collection contains a wide variety of books from many different sources, offering resources for children, students of children’s literature, teachers, storytellers, and others interested in these topics.
During the Library’s 1907 Founders’ Day celebration, Kaiser Wilhelm II, the last German emperor and king of Prussia, donated 139 volumes to the Library’s rare book room as a gesture of friendship and diplomatic international camaraderie. An unusual collection of mostly German-language text, it provides insight into pre-World War I German Culture and industry. The collection features books about German engineering, commerce, insurance, exploration, architecture, painting and engraving, as well as a rare and beautiful collection of poems written by the Turkish Sultan Selim I.