This library housed the entire Brown University Library collection from 1910 until 1964. In 1971, when physical science materials were transferred to the new Sciences Library, the John Hay Library became exclusively a repository for the Library's Special Collections (over 250 separate collections, some 2,500,000 items, including over 9,100 manuscripts by Hay and his associates, and 2,000 books by and about Hay and his period.
