Library

Welcome to the Winterthur Library, an independent research library with world-class collections dedicated to the understanding and appreciation of artistic, cultural, social, and intellectual history of the Americas in a global context from the 17th to the 20th centuries. We invite you to visit us onsite or online.

Our holdings include rare books, manuscripts, original works of art on paper, ephemera, photographs, the archives of the Winterthur estate and its history as a museum, and more. Collections encompass everything from 20th-century etiquette books by Black leaders, to 17th-century atlases and style guides by European publishers, 18th-century account books of immigrant craftspeople, to extraordinary 19th-century chromolithographed ephemera by leading printers from around the world. Explore the collections through WinterCat, the library’s online catalog and through resources including digital collections, finding aids, and the Internet Archive. You’ll find documentation of household goods and their use, decorative arts and design, records by and about craftspeople and merchants, the material culture of everyday life, and much more…even poison books! We welcome a wide range of inquiry with all of our collections, whether you visit us in person or online. 

The Winterthur Library is free and open to the public year-round. Winterthur also invites applications annually for Research Fellowships. Whether you are a student, scholar, or casually curious, the library can help enrich your understanding and appreciation of America’s past in a global context.