Explore 300,000 volumes from the past 270 years
The Library’s growing collection of nearly 300,000 volumes reflects the reading interests of its members from its founding in 1754 to the present. Strengths include fiction and literature, biography, history, social sciences, the arts, travel, and books about New York City. The Library also collects print and digital periodicals, audiobooks, e-books, and other electronic resources.
Our catalog includes collections of all types that may be of special interest.
Our special collections include a wide variety of rare and unique items: books, periodicals, newspapers, pamphlets and broadsides, maps, and manuscripts. Visiting the Collections,
Searching for Rare Materials
Discover the New York Society Library’s historic past through digital copies of materials from our print and archival collections. City Readers also offers a fully searchable database of circulation records for our early membership from 1789 to 1805.
