American Antiquarian Society: A comprehensive repository of pre-1877 American imprints

Abstract

As a representative model of a national “last-copy” repository, the American Antiquarian Society (AAS) offers an interesting counterpoint to the other models generally discussed. As an independent institution, AAS is not formally associated with any university, government entity, or consortium. From its inception, the Society was founded with the desire to preserve printed sources for succeeding generations, and it has been sustained largely by private contributions from a nationwide network of members and supporters. Unlike those of other repositories, AAS collection policies are defined by date and by place of publication. Succinctly stated, its goal is to collect and preserve one copy of every item printed through the year 1876 in what is now the United States. Unlike other repository models, the AAS library serves as an active center for scholarship in early American history broadly and, more specifically, in the study of American book history. Its programs include residential research fellowships—not only for academics, but also for writers and creative artists—seminars, conferences, and the publication of a scholarly journal and of many important bibliographies. Despite these differences, the AAS resembles other national repository models in that the AAS seeks to collect, preserve, and make available materials from what is, in essence, a “national repository”.