Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary

Burke Library of the Union Theological Seminary is located at 3041 Broadway, in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1838, since 2004 it has been a part of the Columbia University Libraries. Holding over 700,000 items, it is one of the largest theological libraries in North America. Burke Library began with the purchase of the Leander van Ess collection in 1838, described by Cornell University professor Thomas Frederick Crane as "the most valuable library which has ever been brought into the country." The van Ess collection can be traced back to the library of the Benedictine abbey at Marienmünster, where van Ess was a member. Following the 1801 Treaty of Lunéville, the monastery's library was split among its members in preparation for its dissolution under Napoleon; van Ess' portion would eventually be sold to the Union Theological Seminary. The collection consisted of around 13,000 volumes, especially rich in pre-1500 incunabula; original editions of patristic 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 by Martin Luther written during the 1520s. Early librarians included professors Edward Robinson, Henry Boynton Smith, and Charles Augustus Briggs. The library would continue to grow, reaching a size of 11

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