Humanities and Social Sciences Library > Collections & Reading Rooms > Slavic and Baltic Division

History

"St. Basil" detail of an
illumination from an early
14th century church Slavic
manuscript Sluzhebnyk [Service]
book ([Novgorod?, 13--]).
Various ownership marks
suggest that as early as 1342,
this volume was held by the
cathedral in Pskov. It was
donated to NYPL by the late
Mrs. Nina Prosen Robbins in 1994.
Rare Books and Manuscripts Division
Photographic Services & Permissions

The Library's tradition of collecting materials relating to the diverse histories, cultures, and languages of the various Slavic, East European, Baltic, and Eurasian peoples, extends back to its nineteenth-century parent collections, the Astor, and Lenox Libraries. Following the formation of The New York Public Library in 1895, these collections continued to grow through the efforts of generations of dedicated staff, an extensive and long-standing network of exchange relationships, and reader generosity.

The Library has served as a crucial international resource for Slavic and Baltic studies, and for New York's varied ethnic communities for a century. Today, the Library is one of the very few institutions in the United States with a unit devoted solely to the selection, processing, and public service of these materials, with a staff that includes many native speakers of the fifteen languages represented in the collection.