Harvard University Library: Open Collections Program

About the Open Collections Program

Through Harvard's Open Collections Program (OCP), the University advances teaching and learning on historical topics of great relevance by providing online access to historical resources from Harvard's renowned libraries, archives, and museums. OCP's highly specialized "open collections" are developed through careful collaborations among Harvard's distinguished faculty, librarians, and curators.

The goal of the Open Collections Program is to offer a new model for digital collections that will benefit students and teachers around the world.

Two "open collections" have been launched since 2004: Women Working, 1800-1930, and Immigration to the United States, 1789-1930. Two additional collections are under development now: Contagion: Historical Views of Contagious Disease and the Islamic Heritage Project.

Support for the Open Collections Program

Harvard University established the Open Collections Program in 2002, with funding from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. The program has received subsequent support from Arcadia and from Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud.

Related Programs at Harvard University

Harvard-Google Project
Google is digitizing a significant number of Harvard's library books that are not under copyright restriction and making them available to Internet users through Google Book Search.

A Selection of Web-Accessible Collections

Women Working, 1800-1930
This collection explores women's roles in the US economy between 1800 and the Great Depression. Working conditions, conditions in the home, costs of living, recreation, health and hygiene, conduct of life, policies and regulations governing the workplace, and social issues are all well documented by original source material.

Immigration to the United States, 1789-1930
Books, manuscripts, maps, photographs, and other historical materials that document voluntary immigration to the United States from the ratification of the Constitution in 1789 to the Great Depression.

Contagion: Historical Views of Contagious Disease (tentative title)
This resource will contain digitized manuscripts, rare books, and photographs that document significant epidemics, such as malaria, cholera, and the Spanish influenza of 1918. Available in 2008.

Islamic Heritage Project
Through the Islamic Heritage Project, Harvard will digitize historically significant Islamic materials and make the resulting images—including imaged texts of the classics of the Islamic tradition—available on the Internet. Available in 2008.