Groundbreaking News!

BHL is thrilled to announce that construction has already begun on our brand new brick-and-mortar library that will house a physical copy of each of the over 159,000 volumes currently digitized and, until now, only available online. Demand for physical access to the digitized copies has been steadily growing over the years, so in an effort to reach users without access to the Internet, we’ve begun the painstaking process of transcription. We realize that much of the value of the BHL collection is derived from the sense of history that one receives while researching these texts–many 300 and 400 years old. In order to preserve that sense, we are replicating the publishing processes and techniques that were common during and before the peak of the industrial revolution.

It’s not cheap and it’s far from easy, but we think you’ll understand why we have gone to all the trouble as you enter the lobby of our new building. The card catalog alone sprawls an impressive half acre. Librarians will be on hand to begin issuing BHL library cards for lending as early as next Fall. See You Soon!

BTW, April Fool’s! 😉