Periodical Archives, Institutional Archives & Special Collection

Library members and non-members should submit an archives consultation appointment application no later than 48 hours in advance of the requested date. Please use the form linked below.

Archival consultation is free for Library members.
The archive consultation fee for non-members is 25€ per day and 70€ for a week pass.

Our print periodical archive includes past issues of Vogue, Vanity Fair, Harper’s Bazaar, Harper’s Weekly, The New Yorker, LIFE, Ebony, and Art in America. Our complete list of archived periodical titles and date ranges is listed here. To check availability and condition of a specific issue or article, please email our librarians.

A significant portion of our print periodical archive was moved to the CTLes (Centre Technique du Livre de l’Enseignement Supérieur) repository in 2016. Library members may search the CTLes catalog and request issues via interlibrary loan (fees apply).

All issues of Ex Libris, the Library’s literary magazine (and its later revival as a quarterly newsletter) have been digitized, and are available to the public on our website.

The Library’s small Special Collection includes books previously owned by Marlene Dietrich, Sylvia Beach’s Shakespeare & Company bookstore, Janet Flanner, Nadia Boulanger, Alain Bosquet, James A. Emanuel, and others. All the books in our Special Collection are listed in our online catalog.

The Library’s institutional archive of documents and photographs related to the Library’s founding and history may only be consulted by appointment. Please fill out the form linked below, or email us with information about your research, and we will send you the relevant finding aids. Many of the Library’s oldest archival photographs are visible on our Tumblr and a selection of images and documents that illustrate milestones in our history are on our website’s timeline. A selection of the Library’s Annual Reports is available digitally on our website. The American Library Association’s digital archive includes documents and photographs related to the Library War Service and the founding of the American Library in Paris.