National Baseball Hall of Fame Library

The library of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum contains a myriad of research materials, most listed in the online catalog, ABNER, which is available via the institution’s website here: http://abner.baseballhalloffame.org/search.

The library is open to the public, and the staff is eager to assist all those interested in baseball research. In addition to material about baseball on the field, the library also collects items concerning baseball and it relationship to culture and society. Chief among the holdings are roughly 25,000 clipping files. In addition to geographical files and subject files, there is a file for most everyone who ever played in the major leagues, Negro Leagues, and women’s leagues; along with executives, umpires, managers, announcers, and other baseball figures. The collection also features more than 500,000 photos, virtually every baseball-related book, complete collections of significant baseball periodicals, archived document collections ranging from August Herrmann to Roger Kahn, scrapbooks, programs, yearbooks, media guides, score sheets, sheet music, recorded media, oral histories, official league records of contracts and player transactions, microfilm collections of box scores, day-by-day records, questionnaires, and other goodies.

The A. Bartlett Giamatti Research Center is open Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and is closed most holidays. Advance reservations are strongly recommended for anyone who wishes to conduct extensive research. Appointments can be made by calling (607) 547-0330.