The collection consists of approximately 5,000 items donated to Brown University Library by Thomas E. Skidmore in April 2006. The collection was originally Skidmore's private library and it reflects over thirty years of collecting materials on Brazil and other areas of Latin America.

The Skidmore collection contains many rare Brazilian books on subjects related to race, nationalism, politics, economics, and Brazilian history that will eventually be added to Special Collections at the John Hay Library. The materials will most likely be housed at the Brown University Library Annex, a new state-of-the-art storage facility.

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 eventually be added to the Skidmore Special Collection.

The Skidmore Special Collection will complement other collections of rare materials 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.

The remainder of the Skidmore materials will be added to the Rockefeller Library’s general collection to complement existing holdings on Brazilian history, politics, society and culture.

The primary languages are Portuguese and English.

Images: Selected items from the Thomas E. Skidmore Special Collection. John Hay Library.