The Thomas E. Skidmore Collection
In April 2006, Prof. Skidmore donated his personal library and papers to Brown University Library. The monograph collection consists of approximately 6,000 items, mainly in English and Portuguese language, and it reflects over thirty years of collecting 19th- and 20th-century materials on Brazil and other areas of Latin America.
The collection contains numerous Brazilian rare and special books on subjects related to race, nationalism, politics, economics, and Brazilian history that are now available for consultation at the John Hay Library. These materials will complement other collections of rare books such as the George Earl Church Collection, which contains approximately 3,500 volumes largely composed of 18th and early 19th-century monographs on economic, historical, geographic, and descriptive studies of Mexico, Central and South America.
Non-rare materials have been transferred to the Rockefeller Library to complement existing holdings on Brazilian history, politics, society and culture.
Prof. Skidmore also generously donated a number of early lithograph reproductions by the French artist Jean-Baptiste Debret, who is known for his depictions of the peoples and landscape of Brazil. These prints will become part of the holdings of the John Hay Library.