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John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library
John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library

Library Collections

The library houses five main collections: The Reference and Circulating Collections, Corporate Archives, Media Collections, Special Collections, and the Visual Resources Collection. Whether you are a historian, a student, a museum professional, an independent scholar, an artist, an interpreter, or simply interested in learning more about history, we welcome you to use the growing collection of resources at the Rock.

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Volunteers browse the shelves of the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library.

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Orientation Interpreter using a computer to do research at the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library.

Reference and Circulating Collections

The Reference and Circulating collections at the Rock support the breadth of research done at Colonial Williamsburg. Shelved in open stacks, visitors may browse over 70,000 books and journals.

  • Visitors may browse over 70,000 books and journals relating to:

    • Archaeology
    • Architectural history and historic preservation
    • Children’s literature
    • Conservation and museum studies
    • Early American history, including African American and Native American history
    • Fine, decorative, mechanical, and folk art
    • Garden and landscape history
    • Historic trades
    • Research reports on Colonial Williamsburg properties

  • Visitors are welcome to browse the 70,000 items that make up the Rockefeller Library’s Reference and Circulating Collection while on site. Colonial Williamsburg staff, affiliates, and William & Mary faculty, students, and staff may borrow materials from the library. For questions on borrowing from the library, please see our circulation policies or contact the circulation staff at [email protected].

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353944-1_Medium (Digital Publication)

Powhatan Bolling, letter, 1784 January 26, to William Fleming

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Text of Leviticus from Verbum sempiternum. Boston : N. Procter, 1765.

Special Collections

Colonial Williamsburg has been collecting original manuscripts, newspapers, playbills, broadsides, pamphlets, and other primary sources since 1926. More than 11,800 rare books offer strengths in architecture, landscape architecture, domestic crafts, legal and religious tracts, medicine, illustrated texts from the 15th through the 19th centuries, and the personal library of the Prentis family of Williamsburg. Issues of the Virginia Gazette, the official newspaper of Virginia printed in Williamsburg from 1736 until 1780, are an important resource for the library’s research community.

  • Manuscript collections include documents from the 17th to the early 19th centuries covering many aspects of Tidewater Virginia culture and beyond, from Patrick Henry's "Resolves" to the correspondence of Williamsburg residents. Of special significance are the William Blathwayt Papers (1631-1722), consisting chiefly of letters written to Blathwayt by colonial governors and others; and the John Norton and Sons Papers (1763–1798), containing correspondence and business papers of the firm of John Norton and Sons, merchants, of London and Virginia, including letters, bills, accounts, receipts, and bills of lading.

  • The manuscript collections are discoverable through finding aids on the library website and the Archival Resources of the Virginias site, and in Guide to the Manuscript Collections of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (1993). Many items from Special Collections have been digitized and may be accessed through the online resources links. To consult Special Collections in person, please contact the Head of Special Collections at [email protected] to request an appointment.

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Library Collections_Peter Hornbeck Lantern Slides

Row houses and shops line a street in the village of Amersham, England, circa 1930s. Peter Hornbeck Lantern Slides Collection, AV-2000.9

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Portrait of Albert Durant posing with a Century Grand Studio Camera, circa late 1940s. Albert Durant Photography Collection, AV1992.2

Visual Resources Collection

The Visual Resources Collection holds over a half million photographs, drawings, scrapbooks, postcards, and graphics providing visual documentation of Colonial Williamsburg, its buildings, landscapes, development, programs, collections, personnel, and related materials on Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay area.

  • With items dating from the late 19th century through the early 21st century, the collection includes:

    • Colonial Williamsburg’s analog photo archives (1930s-1990s)
    • Photographs and drawings of Williamsburg from the pre-restoration and restoration eras
    • Photographs and drawings of architectural precedents studied in conjunction with Williamsburg’s restoration
    • Visual formats such as lantern slides, autochromes, stereographs, scrapbooks, and photo albums
    • The Albert Durant Photography Collection
    • Donated collections that offer additional perspectives on the African American community in Williamsburg, decorative arts donors and collectors, architectural study of Williamsburg, and the tourist experience in Williamsburg

  • Much of the Visual Resources Collection has been digitized and may be accessed through the online resources links. If you would like to consult the collections in person, please contact the Visual Resources Librarian at [email protected] to request an appointment.

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Restricted_Library Collections_Door Tag_Inn_Lodge

Front side, Door hang tag: Williamsburg Inn and Lodge Do not Disturb! 1956. Corporate Archives, Pamphlet File Publications Inn and Lodge

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Photograph, Mathew Whaley Schoolhouse, circa 1927.

Corporate Archives

The Corporate Archives preserves and provides access to records related to the 20th-century Restoration and continuing story of Colonial Williamsburg from 1926 to the present.

    • The development of the physical buildings and spaces of the Restoration, including architectural and archaeological history, landscape design, and interior design
    • Historical interpretation of the colonial history of Williamsburg and of the restoration
    • The mission and programs of the Historic Trades
    • The visitor experience
    • The decorative and folk art collections of the restoration buildings and art museum
    • The administrative, business, and legal history of the restoration and the Foundation
    • Oral histories of Colonial Williamsburg employees and Historic Area residents

  • As a corporate archive, the collection exists principally to serve the research needs of Foundation staff, although requests from external researchers will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

    Please note that records for the Corporate Archives are not included in the online catalog. For assistance finding materials relevant to your research, please contact the archivists at [email protected].

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Shelves of motion picture film in cold storage.

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The Greenhow Brick Office on a snowy winter day.

Media Collections

The Media Collections gathers and preserves Colonial Williamsburg’s audiovisual assets in both analog and digital format. To date, the collection includes more than 400,000 digital images created by Colonial Williamsburg photographers, motion picture films, and educational audio and video productions from 1930 to the present.

To better understand the Colonial Williamsburg visitor experience and to document the history of tourism in Williamsburg, Media Collections holds a small but growing collection of home movies from the mid-20th century.

    • Colonial Naturalist (1965)
    • The “Harvard Footage” of Duke of Gloucester Street recorded by John A. Haeseler (1931)
    • Music of Williamsburg (1960)
    • Williamsburg Restored (1951)
    • Williamsburg: The Story of a Patriot (1957)
    • The Williamsburg Craft Series, including The Cooper's Craft, Basketmaking in Colonial Virginia, Gunsmith of Williamsburg, Silversmith of Williamsburg, Hammerman in Williamsburg, and The Musical Instrument Maker of Williamsburg

  • Please note that records for items in the Media Collections are not included in the online catalog, though a growing percentage of the collection may be accessed via our Digital Collections. For assistance finding materials relevant to your research, please email [email protected].