Burke Library began with the purchase of theLeander van Ess collection in 1838, described byCornell University professorThomas Frederick Crane as "the most valuable library which has ever been brought into the country."[2]: 352 The van Ess collection can be traced back to the library of theBenedictine abbey atMarienmünster, where van Ess was a member. Following the 1801Treaty of Lunéville, the monastery's library was split among its members in preparation for its dissolution underNapoleon; van Ess' portion would eventually be sold to the Union Theological Seminary. The collection consisted of around 13,000 volumes, especially rich in pre-1500incunabula; original editions ofpatristic literature;Roman Catholic theology, liturgies, and canon law; early Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and polyglot editions of the Bible; as well as a significant group of pamphlets written byMartin Luther written during the 1520s.[3][2]: 353 Early librarians included professorsEdward Robinson,Henry Boynton Smith, andCharles Augustus Briggs.[2]: 353–354
The library would continue to grow, reaching a size of 115,000 volumes by 1899, making it the largest American theological seminary library and tenth-largest college library in general at the time.[2]: 352 Notable acquisitions during the time include the McAlpin collection, donated byDavid Hunter McAlpin;[2]: 355 donations fromEzra Hall Gillett,Samuel Hanson Cox,William Buell Sprague, andJohn Marsh; as well as a 7,000 volume gift fromEdwin Francis Hatfield.[2]: 356 In 1880, New York GovernorEdwin D. Morgan donated $100,000 to the library, which went toward the construction of a new building for the library and the establishment of a permanent fund.[4]
Due to increasing costs, Burke Library was acquired by the library ofColumbia University, which the Union Theological Seminary is affiliated with, in 2004. Its collections were fully integrated into those of the Columbia Libraries, while allowing Union Theological Seminary and Columbia students and faculty full access to either institution's libraries.[5]
^Gatch, Milton (2007).The Library of Leander van Ess and the Earlies American Collections of Reformation Pamphlets. New York: The Bibliographical Society of America.ISBN978-0-914930-18-1.
