Thomas J. Watson Library Digital Collections

The primary mission of the Watson Library Digitization Initiative is to expand access to the Museum's rare and unique research materials by developing, supporting, and promoting a distinctive digital collection of these items. The initiative targets materials that fall outside the parameters of other major digitization efforts, such as Google Books or the Internet Archive, and makes them accessible to support the scholarly endeavors of The Metropolitan Museum of Art's staff as well as an international community of researchers. Read the complete Digital Collections Development Policy (PDF)

View of the Museum facing southwest, showing main facade and Wing D, in a black and white image from 1904

Metropolitan Museum of Art Publications

Digitized publications from the Museum's Libraries and Archives, including the majority of publications from 1869-1993 and a growing number of later titles.

Detail of a 19th-century photograph depicting the Fort at Agra, India, with the Taj Majal in the far distance

Rare Materials in The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries

Rare and important works held in the Thomas J. Watson Library and other curatorial department libraries at The Met.

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Auction Catalogs

Digitized catalogs from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries, primarily from American and European auction houses.

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Cloisters Archives Collection

The Brummer Gallery Records, photographic albums, and finding aids to archival collections held in The Cloisters Library and Archives.

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Costume Institute Collections

Ephemeral and archival collections from the Institute and its Irene Lewisohn Costume Institute Library.

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Fine Bindings

Photographs of Watson Library's growing collections of decorated bindings.

Japanese Illustrated Books Detail of an early 19th century Japanese woodblock illustration depicting various small birds perched on branches

Detail of an early 19th century Japanese woodblock illustration depicting various small birds perched on branches

Japanese Illustrated Books

Seventeenth- to twentieth-century Japanese illustrated books from The Met's Department of Asian Art and Watson Library.

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Manuscript Collections

Archival materials from Watson Library, Museum Archives, and several curatorial departments.

At top: An act to incorporate the Metropolitan Museum of Art, passed April 13, 1870 (detail of page [2]).