To familarize yourself with general concepts and terminology used in Special Collections and primary source research, visit Primary Sources at Yale.

The guide below describes tools that can be used to identify Beinecke material. Research tools that are restricted to material held at the Beinecke have been identified with the term “Beinecke only”; resources that are more general, which include records for Beinecke material as well as material held at other campus libraries, have been designated with the phrase “Yale Library”:

• Orbis (Yale's Online Catalog) – Yale Library
• Special Catalogs - Information about materials not represented in Orbis are listed here.
• Database of Archival Collections and Manuscripts - Yale Library
• Uncataloged Acquisitions – Beinecke only
• Pre-1600 Manuscript Database – Beinecke only
• Additional Databases : American Drawings, Art Storage, College Pamphlets, Papyrus Database, Western
  Collection Prints, Western Americana Stereocards, Western Americana Film Scripts – Beinecke only
• Digital Images Online – Beinecke only

ORBIS – Yale's Online Catalog

What's in Orbis? Records for virtually all of Beinecke's cataloged printed materials; records for cataloged manuscripts; records for some archival collections. (Yale Library)

Consider ORBIS your first stop when searching for materials held by the Beinecke. Virtually all of the Library's cataloged printed materials, as well as many of its manuscripts and archival collections can be found by searching ORBIS. You may apply various limits (location, type of material) when searching. ORBIS help screens are available.

To find additional printed material not in ORBIS, but exclusive to the Beinecke, search Uncataloged Acquisitions; for manuscripts and archival collections, search Uncataloged Acquisitions and the Database of Archival Collections and Manuscripts.

Special Catalogs

See the Special Catalogs page for information about other materials not represented in Orbis.

Database of Archival Collections and Manuscripts

What's in the Database of Archival Collections and Manuscripts? Finding aids for some archival collections. (Yale Library)

This database consists of finding aids for archival and manuscript materials at Yale University. Their purpose is to provide information about the creation, historical context, arrangement, and content of archival and manuscript collections as well as the information necessary for users to identify and request the portions relevant to their research. These finding aids vary in style, depth of detail, and amount of materials covered, but their common purpose is to describe and enable access to archival and manuscript collections. This resource is primarily known as the Yale Finding Aid Database.

The previous Database of Archival Collections and Manuscripts included records for Medieval and Renaissance manuscripts. Those records are now available separately in the Pre-1600 Manuscripts database.

Researchers are reminded that multiple repositories at Yale hold archival and manuscript material. Search in ORBIS and contact other Special Collections at Yale to explore Yale's extraordinary collections.

For a broader search for Beinecke's archival and manuscript collections, search ORBIS , Uncataloged Acquisitions , Special Collections: Additional Catalog Resources , and the Additional Databases described below. Special Collections at Yale provides an overview of holdings elsewhere on campus.

Uncataloged Acquisitions

What's in Uncataloged Acquisitions? Records for uncataloged printed, manuscript and archival materials. (Beinecke only)

Uncataloged Acquisitions is a database containing records with brief information for material that is not cataloged; these materials include printed, archival and manuscript material not found in ORBIS or the Database of Archival Collections and Manuscripts. In general these uncataloged materials were acquired from 1985 until the present although the database includes some earlier acquisitions. Records for cataloged material are removed annually.

Pre-1600 Manuscript Database

What's in the Pre-1600 Manuscript Database? Records for Medieval and Renaissance manuscripts. (Beinecke only)

The Pre-1600 Manuscript Database containing records describing Medieval and Renaissance manuscripts at the Beinecke Library. These records were previously available in the Database of Archival Collections and Manuscripts.

Additional Databases

American Drawings / Art Storage / Cary Playing Cards / College Pamphlets / Papyrus Database / Western Collection Prints / Western Americana Stereocards / Western Americana Film Scripts

Digital Images Online

What's in Digital Images Online? Images for a range of materials from the Beinecke's collections. (Beinecke only)

Beinecke's Digital Images Online offers approximately 200,000 images of a wide range of materials from throughout the Beinecke Collections: photographs, manuscripts, correspondence, artwork, objects, illustrations, and selected pages from printed works. The majority of images are scans of original material in full 24-bit color. About 20,000 images are scanned images from the Beinecke's Photonegative File, which contains negatives and color transparences of images selected for reproduction or study by patrons over the last twenty years.

Data describing these images is brief in most cases, but generally includes a call number and subject or author. For a complete description of the data fields, refer to Photonegative Descriptive Data .

Search for images of papyri through the Papyrus Database.

For more information about other digital images at Yale, see Yale University Library's Digital Collections page.