The Lilly Library, located on the campus of

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. * Indiana Univers ...

Bloomington, Indiana Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the central region of the U.S. state of Indiana. It is the seventh-largest city in Indiana and the fourth-largest outside the Indianapolis metropolitan area. According to the Mo ...

, is an important rare book and manuscript library in the United States. At its dedication on October 3, 1960, the library contained a collection of 20,000 books, 17,000 manuscripts, more than fifty oil paintings, and 300 prints. Currently, the Lilly Library has 8.5 million manuscripts, 450,000 books, 60,000 comic books, 16,000 mini books, 35,000 puzzles, and 150,000 sheets of music.

History

Atlas maior 1655 - vol 10 - Novus Atlas Sinensis - cover - P1080377

The Lilly Library was founded in 1960 with the collection of Josiah K. Lilly, Jr., owner of Lilly Pharmaceuticals in Indianapolis. J.K. Lilly was a collector most of his life. From the mid-1920s until his death, he devoted a great deal of his leisure time to building his collections of books and manuscripts, works of art, coins, stamps, military miniatures, firearms and edged weapons, and nautical models. J. K. Lilly's collections of books and manuscripts, totaling more than 20,000 books and 17,000 manuscripts, together with more than fifty oil paintings and 300 prints, were given by the collector to Indiana University between 1954 and 1957. These materials form the foundation of the rare book and manuscript collections of the Lilly Library. The extent to which J. K. Lilly realized his collecting goals was summed up by Frederick B. Adams, Jr., at the dedication of the Lilly Library on October 3, 1960: "Mr. Lilly's books cover so many fields that it is difficult to believe that any one man's enthusiasm could encompass them all. It is equally astounding that he was able to acquire so many books of such scarcity and quality in the short space of 30 years. Money alone isn't the answer; diligence, courage, and imagination were also essential. The famous books in English and American literature, the books most influential in American life, the great works in the history of science and ideas--all these are among the 20,000 Lilly books in this building."

Collection

The library now contains approximately 450,000 books, 8.5 million manuscripts, 60,000 comic books, 16,000 mini books, 35,000 puzzles, and 150,000 pieces of sheet music. The library's holdings are particularly strong in British and American history and literature, Latin Americana, medicine and science, food and drink, children's literature, fine printing and binding, popular music, medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, and early printing. There are many notable items in the library's collections. * New Testament of the

Gutenberg Bible The Gutenberg Bible (also known as the 42-line Bible, the Mazarin Bible or the B42) was the earliest major book printed using mass-produced movable metal type in Europe. It marked the start of the "Gutenberg Revolution" and the age of printed b ...

* The first printed collection of Shakespeare's works (the

First Folio ''Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies'' is a collection of plays by William Shakespeare, commonly referred to by modern scholars as the First Folio, published in 1623, about seven years after Shakespeare's death. It is cons ...

) * Audubon's Birds of America * One of 26 extant copies of the "First Printing of the Declaration of Independence" (also known as the "

Dunlap Broadside The physical history of the United States Declaration of Independence spans from its original drafting in 1776 into the discovery of historical documents in modern time. This includes a number of drafts, handwritten copies, and published broadsid ...

") that was printed in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776 * George Washington's letter accepting the presidency of the United States *

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

's desk from his law office and a leaf from the famous Abraham Lincoln "Sum Book" ca. 1824-1826 * Lord Chesterfield's letters to his son * The manuscripts of Robert Burns's "

Auld Lang Syne "Auld Lang Syne" (: note "s" rather than "z") is a popular song, particularly in the English-speaking world. Traditionally, it is sung to bid farewell to the old year at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve. By extension, it is also often ...

" * The

Boxer Codex The ''Boxer Codex'' is a late sixteenth century Spanish manuscript that was produced in the Philippines. The document contains seventy-five colored illustrations of the peoples of China, the Philippines, Java, the Moluccas, the Ladrones, and Sia ...

, manuscript written c. 1595 which contains illustrations of

ethnic groups in the Philippines The Philippines is inhabited by more than 182 ethnolinguistic groups, many of which are classified as "Indigenous Peoples" under the country's Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act of 1997. Traditionally-Muslim peoples from the southernmost island ...

at the time of their initial contact with the Spaniards. * J. M. Synge's "

The Playboy of the Western World ''The Playboy of the Western World'' is a three-act play written by Irish playwright John Millington Synge and first performed at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, on 26 January 1907. It is set in Michael James Flaherty's public house in County Mayo (o ...

" * J. M. Barrie's "

Peter Pan Peter Pan is a fictional character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythi ...

" * Typescripts of many of Ian Fleming's

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 19 ...

novels The library also owns the papers of Hollywood directors

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

and

John Ford John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), known professionally as John Ford, was an American film director and naval officer. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers of his generation. He ...

, film critic

Pauline Kael Pauline Kael (; June 19, 1919 – September 3, 2001) was an American film critic who wrote for ''The New Yorker'' magazine from 1968 to 1991. Known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, Kael's opinions of ...

, the poets

Sylvia Plath Sylvia Plath (; October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. She is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for two of her published collections, '' Th ...

and

Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works includ ...

, and authors

Edith Wharton Edith Wharton (; born Edith Newbold Jones; January 24, 1862 – August 11, 1937) was an American novelist, short story writer, and interior designer. Wharton drew upon her insider's knowledge of the upper-class New York "aristocracy" to portra ...

and

Upton Sinclair Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. (September 20, 1878 – November 25, 1968) was an American writer, muckraker, political activist and the 1934 Democratic Party nominee for governor of California who wrote nearly 100 books and other works in sever ...

Ruth E. Adomeit collection

After the death of Ruth E. Adomeit in 1996, her collection of

miniature book A miniature book is a very small book. Standards for what may be termed a miniature rather than just a small book have changed through time. Today, most collectors consider a book to be miniature only if it is 3 inches or smaller in height, wid ...

s was donated to the Lilly. The Adomeit collection is considered to be one of the largest collections of miniature books. The collection is titled ''4000 Years of Miniature Books''. The Adomeit collection ranges the entire history of human record keeping in miniature form, from cuneiform tablets of circa 2000 B.C. to contemporary small press and artists' books.

Michael E. Uslan Collection

Michael Uslan Michael E. Uslan (; born June 2, 1951) is an American lawyer and film producer. Uslan has also dabbled in writing and teaching, he is known for being the first instructor to teach an accredited course on comic book folklore at any university. Ear ...

, producer of the Batman movies, donated over 30,000 comics to the Lilly Library. Parts of the collection were displayed at the Lilly Library in an exhibition called "Comics as Cultural Mythology: The Michael E. Uslan Collection of Comic Books and Graphic Novels" from September 12, 2005 to December 17, 2005. The Uslan Collection also contains a vast array of action figures as well as other pop culture memorabilia, which can be accessed through the Lilly Library Request System. The collection is currently housed at the Auxiliary Library Facility (ALF) and can be accessed for use through IUCAT, the Indiana University Library catalog.

Jerry Slocum Mechanical Puzzle Collection

In 2006, the library received a collection of 30,000 mechanical puzzles and 4,000 puzzle related books from

Jerry Slocum Jerry Slocum is an American historian, collector and author specializing on the field of mechanical puzzles. He worked as an engineer at Hughes Aircraft prior to retiring and dedicating his life to puzzles. His personal puzzle collection, numb ...

. The collection is the largest assemblage of its kind in the world. Mechanical puzzles are hand-held objects that must be manipulated to solve the puzzle. The collection spans multiple centuries and five continents. The collection is on permanent display in the Slocum Puzzle Room and includes puzzles that can be handled by visitors. The Lilly Library is currently developing a
online database
of the collection.

French Revolution Documents

The Lilly contains an extensive collection of material that centers on the French Revolution of 1789. The collection contains approximately seven thousand pieces and includes all types of printed materials, such as journals, polemical pamphlets, and many other documents. The collection consists of 3,362 legal publications. The majority of the other documents are royal and administrative acts published in pamphlet form between 1789 and 1799. There are royal edicts, arrets, addresses, declarations, reglements, lettres patentes, rapports, ordonnances, memoires, lois, and various other titled or untitled official documents.

Bernardo Mendel Collection

The Mendel collection is divided into two categories: one relates to the period of geographical discovery and exploration and the other consists of additions made by the Lilly Library after the original acquisition. The geographical and discovery collection ranges from the 15th through the 19th century. It includes the great cosmographic and geographic works of Ptolemy as well as narratives of the discovery and conquest of the New World. The emphasis of the subsequent acquisitions is on Latin Americana from the 17th through the 19th century, with particular attention to Mexican history. The Mendel Room in the Lilly was dedicated in 1964.

James Whitcomb Riley Collection

The Lilly Library has the personal papers of

James Whitcomb Riley James Whitcomb Riley (October 7, 1849 – July 22, 1916) was an American writer, poet, and best-selling author. During his lifetime he was known as the " Hoosier Poet" and "Children's Poet" for his dialect works and his children's poetry. His ...

in a variety of manuscript collections. There are also miscellaneous uncataloged materials that includes clippings, scrapbooks, photographs, memorabilia, and other ephemera. The majority of his writings and personal correspondence are found in the Riley mss. Hundreds of Riley’s books are listed in Indiana University’s online catalog. On the 150th anniversary of his birth, the library produced an online exhibition that explores James Whitcomb Riley’s impact on American society and the 19th century literary world. The Lilly Library has other Indiana authors in their collection as well.

Film, Radio & Television Collection

The Lilly Library houses 2,000 motion picture scripts, including the second draft script for the film

Chariots of Fire ''Chariots of Fire'' is a 1981 British historical sports drama film directed by Hugh Hudson, written by Colin Welland and produced by David Puttnam. It is based on the true story of two British athletes in the 1924 Olympics: Eric Liddell, ...

. In order to supplement the script material the library added to the collection material from

Clifford Odets Clifford Odets (July 18, 1906 – August 14, 1963) was an American playwright, screenwriter, and actor. In the mid-1930s, he was widely seen as the potential successor to Nobel Prize-winning playwright Eugene O'Neill, as O'Neill began to withdra ...

, and most recently

Peter Bogdanovich Peter Bogdanovich (July 30, 1939 – January 6, 2022) was an American director, writer, actor, producer, critic, and film historian. One of the " New Hollywood" directors, Bogdanovich started as a film journalist until he was hired to work on ...

. The library is home to 800 BBC radio scripts and the papers of

Lance Sieveking Lance Sieveking (19 March 1896 – 6 January 1972) was an English writer and pioneer BBC radio and television producer. He was married three times, and was father to archaeologist Gale Sieveking (1925–2007) and Fortean-writer Paul Sieveking (19 ...

and

D. G. Bridson Douglas Geoffrey Bridson (21 August 1910 – 19 October 1980), commonly known as D. G. Bridson, was a radio producer and author who became the "cultural boss of the BBC". Biography Douglas Bridson (he was known to all as Geoffrey) started as a f ...

. The television scripts consist mostly of material from

John McGreevey John McGreevey (December 21, 1922 – November 24, 2010) was an American writer and screenwriter. He is the father of former Disney star and Emmy-nominated television writer Michael McGreevey. Filmography ;Films *1969: '' Hello Down There'' * ...

as well as scripts from such television shows as ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vario ...

'' and '' Mission: Impossible''. *The

Collection includes four of his Oscars - one which is on display - stills from ''

Ben-Hur Ben-Hur or Ben Hur may refer to: Fiction *'' Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ'', an 1880 novel by American general and author Lew Wallace ** ''Ben-Hur'' (play), a play that debuted on Broadway in 1899 ** ''Ben Hur'' (1907 film), a one-reel silent ...

'' (1925), script drafts, and correspondence.

Sheet Music

The library houses 150,000 pieces of sheet music. The prominent collections are the Sam DeVincent Collection of American Sheet Music, the Starr Sheet Music Collection, and the Wildermuth Collection of

Hoagy Carmichael Hoagland Howard Carmichael (November 22, 1899 – December 27, 1981) was an American musician, composer, songwriter, actor and lawyer. Carmichael was one of the most successful Tin Pan Alley songwriters of the 1930s, and was among the firs ...

Sheet Music.

Dale Messick Collection

The library has the original pen and ink drawings from

Dale Messick Dalia Messick (April 11, 1906 – April 5, 2005) was an American comic strip artist who used the pseudonym Dale Messick. She was the creator of ''Brenda Starr, Reporter'', which at its peak during the 1950s ran in 250 newspapers. Early life Mes ...

's comic

Brenda Starr ''Brenda Starr, Reporter'' (often referred to simply as ''Brenda Starr'') is a comic strip about a glamorous, adventurous reporter. It was created in 1940 by Dale Messick for the Chicago Tribune Syndicate. History Although set in Chicago, ''B ...

. The collection is organized and searchable by date.

Mystery Writers of America Collection

The material is made up of papers relating to meetings, correspondence, drafts, conferences, periodicals and books from the

Mystery Writers of America Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is an organization of mystery and crime writers, based in New York City. The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday. It presents the Edgar Award, ...

association.

Plath Manuscript Collection

The library has 94 poems as well as 3,324 examples of correspondence, writing, and memorabilia from

. The poems are arranged in chronological order and the miscellaneous items are organized by type. 150 books from Plath's only library are housed at the Lilly Library as well.

Other collections

* American animator Willis Pyle, known for his work on ''

Pinocchio Pinocchio ( , ) is a fictional character and the protagonist of the children's novel ''The Adventures of Pinocchio'' (1883) by Italian writer Carlo Collodi of Florence, Tuscany. Pinocchio was carved by a woodcarver named Geppetto in a Tuscan vil ...

'' and ''

Mr. Magoo Mr. Magoo (known by his full name: J. Quincy Magoo) is a fictional cartoon character created at the UPA animation studio in 1949. Voiced by Jim Backus, Mr. Magoo is an elderly, wealthy, short-statured retiree who gets into a series of comical ...

'', donated his personal archives and papers to the Lilly Library. *

Peter and Iona Opie Iona Margaret Balfour Opie, (13 October 1923 – 23 October 2017) and Peter Mason Opie (25 November 1918 – 5 February 1982) were an English married team of folklorists who applied modern techniques to understanding children's literature and ...

donated their collection of approximately 1,200 children's books to the Lilly. Peter and Iona Opie are the authors of ''The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes'' (1952) and ''The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren'' (1959). * The Gosling Mandrovsky Playing Card Collection * Richard Hughes, author of '' A High Wind in Jamaica''. * 398 books and periodicals from the collection of Elizabeth Gamble Miller * Most of the papers of the Scottish author, critic and journalist

Richard Curle Richard Curle (1883–1968) was a Scottish author, critic, and journalist. He was a friend of the novelist Joseph Conrad, who was also the subject of several of his critical works. Conrad and Curle became friends in the 1910s, becoming especiall ...

Library location

The Lilly Library is located on the southern side of a small square in the heart of the Indiana University Bloomington campus. Showalter Fountain is in the middle of the square.

Indiana University Art Museum The Eskenazi Museum of Art at Indiana University opened in 1941 under the direction of Henry Radford Hope.Baden, Linda J. Indiana University Art Museum: Dedication. Bloomington, IN: Museum, 1982. Print. The museum was intended to be the center of ...

and Indiana University School of Fine Arts are on the opposite (northern) side of the square. Indiana University Auditorium is on the square's eastern side.Any IUB campus map, or Google Maps

References

External links

Video Tour of the Lilly LibraryLilly Library
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