Some libraries and study centers close for all or part of the month of August and for various staff holidays. Please call ahead to confirm hours.

See Hours, Contact Information, and Guidelines for Admission

Search WATSONLINE, the online catalog of the Museum's libraries.

The Central Catalog, (administered by Watson Library) maintains older object records for the Museum's collections (with the exception of The Robert Lehman Collection, prints from the Department of Drawings and Prints, the Department of Photographs, and objects on loan to the Museum). Contributing Museum departments in the past provided object records with some or all of the following information: object description, exhibitions in which the object has appeared since acquisition by the Museum, curatorial notes, bibliographic references, and locations in previous collections.

Object information is best found in the Collection Database, The Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, and in collection or exhibition catalogues. These should be searched first, before consulting the Central Catalog.

The Museum does not guarantee that object information or bibliographies obtained from the Central Catalog files are up to date or complete.

See Hours, Contact Information, and Guidelines for Submitting a Request

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The Lita Annenberg Hazen and Joseph H. Hazen Center for Electronic Information Resources, located in and part of Thomas J. Watson Library, provides access to an extensive collection of databases, full-text online journals, and indexed online resources for the history of art, as well as training and support in their use (see the Watson Library's Guidelines for Admission). See Online Resources for more information about useful art-related links.

Get more information about instruction offered in the Hazen Center. View a list of electronic resources available in the Hazen Center. Get more information about the Hazen Center's mission from the inaugural press release.

See Hours, Contact Information, and Guidelines for Admission

Nolen Library is open to all Museum visitors and welcomes readers of all ages to consult a wide range of noncirculating materials about the Museum's current exhibitions, permanent collection, and the history of art in general.

The collection of some eight thousand items, arranged in open shelves, includes books, picture books, DVDs and videos (with viewing equipment). The Library's holdings are cataloged in WATSONLINE, the Museum Libraries' online catalog. The library is equipped with laptops for research, wireless access, color scanner, and access to the libraries' subscription electronic resources. It is located on the ground floor near the 81st Street entrance to the Museum.

Children's Reading Room
The Children's Reading Room features a collection of books for young readers, and computers that provide basic orientation to the Museum.

Storytime in Nolen Library is offered for children aged three through seven. See the calendar for more information.

Materials for Teachers
Nolen Library houses a wide variety of materials to assist teachers and other education specialists in planning class visits and in incorporating art and art history into their curricula. These materials may be checked out to registered teachers and community group leaders for educational use, upon registration; see Borrowing Policy for teacher materials.

Teachers may arrange to bring groups to the library, by appointment; contact nolen.library@metmuseum.org to inquire about arranging a visit to the library.

Many publications for educators may also be downloaded from this website. Some educational materials may be purchased in The Met Store.

Download a special brochure (PDF) about the book From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg.

Reference Questions
Nolen Library staff will provide brief responses to questions about Museum objects and events. Send questions to nolen.library@metmuseum.org.

Hours for Nolen Library and the Teacher Resource Center

Telephone: 212-570-3788
Email: nolen.library@metmuseum.org

The Henry R. Luce Center for the Study of American Art

The Henry R. Luce Center for the Study of American Art makes available for inspection those American fine art and decorative art objects that are not currently on view in the Museum galleries and period rooms or that are on loan to other institutions. The combination of works of art and research facilities makes the Luce Center a focal point for educational programs in The American Wing, home of the Departments of American Paintings and Sculpture and American Decorative Arts.

Objects in the Luce Center are arranged by material (oil paintings, sculpture, furniture and woodwork, glass, ceramics, and metalwork) and within these categories are organized by form and chronology. With the exception of those objects particularly sensitive to light (such as textiles or works on paper), most of the reserve items are on constant view.

As the labeling is minimal for individual items on view, visitors are encouraged to use the computerized catalog of the collection, which includes information on all objects in the Departments of American Paintings and Sculpture and American Decorative Arts (not just those on view in the Luce Center).

The Henry R. Luce Center for the Study of American Art is made possible by the Henry Luce Foundation, Inc. Generous support was also provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts. Additional grants were received from the National Endowments for the Humanities and the Arts.

The Luce Center is open to all visitors during the Museum's public hours.

Hours: Friday and Saturday, 9:30 a.m.–8:45 p.m.; Sunday and Tuesday–Thursday, 9:30 a.m.–5:15 p.m.
Telephone: 212-570-3903

The Robert Goldwater Library

The Robert Goldwater Library is dedicated to the documentation of the arts of Africa, the Pacific Islands, and native and Precolumbian America. The library contains more than thirty thousand volumes and 150 current periodical subscriptions.

The Goldwater Library's collections are available to researchers by request in Watson Library. Visitors are encouraged to search the holdings of The Goldwater Library in WATSONLINE, the Museum libraries' online catalog. Materials will be paged from the Goldwater Library twice a day, Monday through Friday, for use in Watson during Watson Library hours.

Hours: Researchers with special requests for Goldwater Library material may make appointments in advance for Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:00–4:00 p.m.
Email: Goldwater.Library@metmuseum.org

The Photograph Study Collection

The Photograph Study Collection is part of the Museum's Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. It seeks to promote research and understanding of traditional arts and cultures, as well as their representation and reception through photography. The Collection contains more than 120,000 images in a wide variety of photographic formats, ranging from nineteenth-century paper negatives to twenty-first-century digital images.The Museum's Collection Database, a searchable database of artworks and related materials from the Museum's permanent collection, includes many records from The Photograph Study Collection. Learn more about The Photograph Study Collection.

The Photograph Study Collection is open to the public. Advance appointments are required to view fragile materials and special collections.

Hours: Tuesday–Thursday, 10:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m. and 2:30–4:45 p.m. Hours may vary. Advance appointments are strongly recommended.
(closed in August)
Telephone: 212-650-2823
Fax: 212-396-5039

The Cloisters Library and Archives

The Cloisters Library and Archives contain materials specifically for the study of medieval art and related topics. The library's collection of approximately thirteen thousand volumes encompasses medieval architecture, tapestries, painting, illuminated manuscripts, stained glass, sculpture, ivories, and metalwork. Works on medieval history and the medieval garden are also collected. The archives contain material relating to the history of The Cloisters, as well as the papers of Sumner McKnight Crosby (1909–1982; medieval art historian, Yale University), the papers of Harry Bober (1915–1988; medieval art historian, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University), and other research collections.

The Cloisters, the branch of The Metropolitan Museum of Art devoted to the art of medieval Europe, is located in Fort Tryon Park in northern Manhattan. See The Cloisters Museum & Gardens: General Information for directions. Its library is open to qualified researchers by appointment only, and access to the archives is granted only after a letter is received stating specific research needs and only for students at the graduate level and above.

Hours: Tuesday–Friday, 10:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
Telephone: 212-396-5319
Fax: 212-795-3640
Email: cloisters.library@metmuseum.org

The Irene Lewisohn Costume Reference Library

The Irene Lewisohn Costume Reference Library is one of the world's foremost fashion libraries. Its collection includes approximately thirty thousand noncirculating monographs, rare books, and periodicals, as well as design archives, sketchbooks, photographs, drawings, prints, and extensive files of clippings pertaining to the history and study of the arts of adornment throughout the world. The library maintains fifty current fashion periodical subscriptions, including a wide range of international magazines and scholarly journals.

The Irene Lewisohn Costume Reference Library is open to researchers by appointment only. Before making an appointment, visitors are encouraged to search the holdings of The Costume Institute's Library in WATSONLINE, the Museum libraries' online catalog. Titles listed as being either in the Thomas J. Watson Library or offsite should be used in Watson Library. Titles that are offsite require forty-eight hours' notice for retrieval.

Hours: By appointment only, Tuesday and Wednesday, 1:00–4:00 p.m.
Email: julie.le@metmuseum.org
Telephone: 212-650-2723

Study Rooms for Drawings and Prints

The Metropolitan Museum has more than four thousand master drawings, more than ten thousand architectural and ornamental drawings, more than one million prints by virtually every master printmaker who has ever practiced, and extensive holdings of illustrated books and printed ephemera. Most of these works can be pulled from storage for examination by qualified researchers in the study rooms.

The study rooms also contain an extensive reference library of books on the history of prints and drawings. Partial holdings of this reference collection appear in WATSONLINE, the Museum libraries' online catalog.

The Study Rooms for Drawings and Prints are accessible to qualified visitors by appointment and with proper identification.

Hours: Tuesday–Friday, 10:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m. and 2:00–4:45 p.m. (closed in August).
Telephone: 212-570-3920 (prints); 212-570-3912 (drawings)

The Robert Lehman Collection Library

The Robert Lehman Collection Library is open to qualified researchers by appointment.

Hours: Tuesday–Friday, hours vary
Telephone: 212-650-2340 (library); 212-570-3915 (office)
Email: lehman.library@metmuseum.org

Joyce F. Menschel Photography Library

The Joyce F. Menschel Library contains more than ten thousand volumes relating to the history of photography and to the Museum's collection of photographs. Located in the curatorial Department of Photographs, the library primarily serves the curatorial staff, but its collection is also accessible to outside researchers by appointment.

Before visiting, users are encouraged to consult the holdings of the Menschel Library in WATSONLINE, the Museum libraries' online catalog.

Hours: Tuesdays, 9:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. and 2:00–4:30 p.m.
Telephone: 212-570-3889

Study Room for Photographs

The Museum's collection contains approximately thirty thousand photographs spanning the entire history of the medium, including five hundred photographically illustrated books and albums. Almost all of these are eligible for firsthand inspection. Researchers may also consult materials from the Walker Evans Archive in the Study Room.

The Study Room for Photographs is accessible to qualified researchers by appointment and with proper identification. Before making an appointment, visitors are encouraged to consult the Collection Database to search the department's holdings.

Hours: Tuesdays, 9:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. and 2:00–4:30 p.m.
Telephone: 212-570-3889

Antonio Ratti Textile Center and Reference Library

One of the largest, most technically advanced facilities for the study, storage, and conservation of textiles in any major art museum, the Antonio Ratti Textile Center reflects the Metropolitan's long-standing commitment to collecting textiles, beginning with its first textile acquisition in 1879. The collection is now remarkably diverse, with more than thirty-six thousand objects dating from 3000 B.C. to the present. Formerly dispersed among the various curatorial departments according to the cultures that produced them, most of the Museum's textile holdings are now gathered in the Ratti Center under the controlled environmental conditions necessary for their long-term preservation.

Objects from the collection are featured, on a rotating basis, in a small gallery at the entrance to the center; others can be examined in the center's study rooms with advance appointments (size or extreme fragility may make it impossible to view certain textiles). Computer terminals in the center provide access to digital images and descriptive information about the Museum's textiles, maximizing the information available to scholars and the public while minimizing the textiles' exposure to light, dust, and handling. (You may also see the Collection Database to view highlights from the department.)

The center's reference library contains approximately thirty-four hundred books and journals devoted to the historical, technical, and cultural study of textiles. The library is open to the public without an appointment, but use of the database system must be scheduled in advance. Most of the library's holdings appear in WATSONLINE, the Museum libraries' online catalog.

Hours: Tuesday–Friday, 10:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m. (database and library); Tuesday–Friday, 2:00–4:00 p.m. (study rooms)
Telephone: 212-650-2310
Fax: 212-650-2676
Email: RattiTextile.Center@metmuseum.org

Museum Archives

The objective of The Metropolitan Museum of Art Archives is to collect, organize, and preserve in perpetuity the corporate records and official correspondence of the Museum, to make the collection accessible and provide research support, and to further an informed and enduring understanding of the Museum's history. Archives holdings include Board of Trustees records, legal documents, Museum publications, office files of selected Museum staff, architectural drawings, press clippings, and ephemera.

The Archives was established under the Museum's 1870 Constitution, which states that the secretary of the corporation "shall have custody of and preserve the corporate seal and the archives." Until the 1960s, the Archives primarily served as a resource for the Museum's secretary, other officers, and trustees, but has since expanded in scope to serve the needs of the Museum as a whole and of the public. The Archives operates under the authority of the Senior Vice President, Secretary, and General Counsel of the Museum.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Archives is accessible to Museum staff and to qualified scholarly researchers at the graduate level and above. Requests for access should be sent via email and should include a brief summary of the research project, an outline of sources already consulted, and a curriculum vitae or résumé. Access is granted at the discretion of Archives staff and certain materials may be restricted.

Learn more about the Museum Archives.

Hours: Tuesday–Friday by appointment
Telephone: 212-570-3937
Email: archives@metmuseum.org