page_title: Tozzer Library
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Tozzer Library / History
caption_attribution_description: English: F.W. Putnam in Peabody Museum office. Courtesy of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, PM 2004.24.1789
context_page_description: Tozzer Library is Harvard Library's primary source for all subfields of anthropology and archaeology. With over 250,000 volumes, Tozzer is home to one of the largest and most comprehensive anthropology and archaeology collections worldwide. The anthropology collections cover a wide span of regions across the globe, while the archaeology collections also range worldwide but focus heavily on archaeology of the Americas.
  Some notable rare and special collections at Tozzer Library include, but are not limited to:
  Bowditch-Gates Collection
  Adolph F. Bandelier Collection
  Henry O. Beyer Collection
  Jaroslav Pasternak Collection
  Field notes of Alfred M. Tozzer and Sylvanus Griswold Morley
  Personal papers of Cora Du Bois
  Field reports of expeditions led by Henry Field to Pakistan and the Middle East
  Personal libraries and notes of Harvard-affiliated anthropologists
  Dissertations and theses written by Harvard anthropology students
  Tozzer Library also holds many personal libraries of notable scholars, including:
  L. Cabot Briggs
  William R. Bullard
  Hugh O’Neill Hencken
  Samuel K. Lothrop
  Jaroslav Pasternak
  George Grant Maccurdy
  Alfred M. Tozzer
context_section_description: Tozzer Library is the oldest library in the United States specializing in all subfields of anthropology, ethnology, and archaeology. Originally founded as the library of Harvard University’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, the Library was first recognized as the Peabody Museum Library. The Museum was established in 1866 after George Peabody gifted $150,000 towards the acquisition and preservation of archaeological artifacts, as well as towards a physical building and professorship support. The Library was established a few years later, as the Museum’s collections rapidly expanded. The very first book (Kaladlit okalluktualliait: kalâdlisut kablunâtudlo) added to the Library was recorded in 1868 by Jeffries Wyman (1814-1874), natural scientist and Peabody Museum’s first curator. Since the Library was established as an appendage to the Peabody Museum, the book budget and collection grew relatively slowly in its early seminal years, and there were no full-time staff (Schmidt 1982). Books purchases were rare, and scholars were accustomed to depending on the collections of other libraries’ within Harvard (Weeks 1987). In 1880, the collection had reached approximately 1,000 volumes, most of which had been donated. Annual Reports during the first couple decades of the Library’s history indicate an average annual expenditure of roughly $50. Wyman and his secretary, Jane Smith, used index cards to alphabetically catalogue the small collection (Currier 1949).
  By the turn of the nineteenth century, the Peabody Museum’s growing collections and scholarly publications had broadened in scope within the field and opened up opportunities for exchanges and gifts. Harvard archaeologist Charles P. Bowditch (1842-1921) was the largest contributor to the Peabody Museum during this period. He initiated many expeditions to Central America to study the Maya civilization and donated a substantial number of materials to the Peabody Museum and Library (Tozzer 1921). One notable example that Tozzer Library owns is the Bowditch-Gates Collection, which includes over 250 photographic reproductions of nearly every known unpublished manuscript and imprint in Mayan and Mexican languages. In addition to expeditions, Bowditch paved the way for a professorship, as well as continued research and publications under the Peabody Museum. In 1891, Frederic Ward Putnam (1839-1915), Peabody’s first professor, led the first course in archaeology and ethnography of the US (Currier 1949).
  In 1904, Harvard anthropology professor Roland B. Dixon (1875-1934) was appointed as the first librarian of the Peabody Museum Library (Schmidt 1982). The administrative accomplishments of Dixon, along with the wider scope of research and expeditions and expanding student body, led to substantial growth of the Peabody Museum and Library during the early twentieth century. Archaeological research of Central America and the American Southwest continued, and scholars also expanded their focus to areas of Africa and Asia. Publications grew in numbers and scope, resulting in wider recognition of the Peabody Museum and Library as leading players in the field and opening additional opportunities for research exchanges. Dixon was able to secure increased funding for collection development, new shelving, and a team of staff. He also created an index as part of the Library’s card catalogue and developed a system of anthropological separate subject headings, boosting the Library’s reputation as a specialized academic library. Dixon’s card cataloguing and separate subject headings were used for many years, although they were revised and updated as anthropological terminology evolved throughout the years (Weeks 1987).
  Dixon served as Librarian until his death in 1934 and was succeeded by Alfred M. Tozzer (1877-1954), Hudson Professor of Archaeology of Harvard University (Tozzer & Kroeber 1936). Tozzer continued in Dixon’s footsteps, growing the Library’s collections and using the cataloguing system that Dixon developed (Weeks 1987). Earlier in his career, Tozzer participated in several
caption: F.W. Putnam in the Peabody Museum
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