Thank you for your interest in the Emily Hale Letters from T.S. Eliot (C0686)! Please find information regarding access to those materials below.
By agreement between Princeton University Library and Emily Hale, the letters have remained closed in Special Collections since 1956 and were opened to the public in early 2020. More information about how the library acquired the letters can be found on the blog of the Manuscripts Division.
The collection has been fully digitized. Digital surrogate copies as well as original documents will be made available to researchers on a first-come, first-served basis during library open hours.
Access to the originals and facsimiles, which have been organized chronologically, will follow our standard reading room policies, which allow for one box at a time per researcher. Multiple researchers may view different boxes within the collection at the same time. A researcher who opts to consult digital surrogates will have access to the entire collection at once, via a designated reading room laptop.
At this time, due to copyright law, we are only able to provide reading room-based access to the digital and paper facsimile copies.
Before visiting, we recommend that you create a Special Collections Research Account (you can do so on the Special Collections registration and login page). While you can submit requests through the collection finding aid ahead of your visit, no materials will be paged until you arrive at our department and have been signed into the reading room.
First-time visiting researchers will need to stop at the Access Office in the lobby of Firestone Library (which opens at 8:30 AM, Monday-Friday) to obtain Special Collections patron access cards. Once your card has been issued, please take the stairs / elevator down to C-floor, where you will find the Special Collections department. First-time researchers from within the Princeton University community may use their university ID cards to access the reading room.
As a reminder, all food (including gum), drink, and personal belongings (such as bags, coats, laptop sleeves, pens, books, notebooks, cameras) must be stowed in the patron lockers available just outside the department.
At this time, no self-service reference photography of this collection either with a camera, cell phone or tablet will be allowed. As such, no cameras, cell phones, or tablets are permitted in the reading room for patrons viewing this collection. You may bring your laptop. Paper and pencils will be provided by reading room staff for handwritten notes.
The Special Collections Department is open Monday-Friday 9:00 AM-4:45 PM. Paging (retrieval of materials) takes place every half hour, starting at 9:15 AM, with the last paging cycle at 4:15 PM.
We appreciate your patience and understanding as we do our best to offer equitable access to, as well as proper care and handling for, this important collection.
If you have any further questions, feel free to respond to this message or contact us using the Ask A Question form on the Princeton University Library Special Collections website.
