Research at Maine Historical Society’s Brown Research Library is available by appointment from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday, except holidays. MHS members, students, and teachers may use the library free of charge; non-memebers pay $10 per day, and are encouraged to join before arrival. Membership is open to everyone.
Appointment requests are required for manuscript and special collection items, and must be made at least one week in advance.
If possible, please include specific information (call number, collection name, etc.) with your appointment request. Manuscript and special collections are not paged on-demand. MHS strongly encourages patrons to request books in advance. While select titles may be paged on-demand, some materials may not be available (off-site; full-text online). Staff may limit the number of books requested at one appointment or limit access to books which appear online.
Once an appointment request is submitted, an MHS staff member will provide a confirmation email, confirming the date and collection access; or will request additional information. The appointment request process will generate an automated email indicating a successful submission, but this is not an appointment confirmation. A confirmation will come directly from the staff. Without a confirmation, an appointment is not valid.
Appointment requests are reviewed during business hours. A staff member will contact you as soon as possible to confirm your appointment. If you have any questions, special requests, or would like to request an appointment by email, please contact: research@mainehistory.org.
- Five (5) to seven (7) collection items (e.g., boxes, volumes, etc.) may be requested per patron, per day. *Please check the catalog or email research@mainehistory.org to request finding aids for larger collections.
- While some book titles may be requested on demand, MHS strongly encourages requesting books in advance. Some titles may not be available (off-site, etc). Staff may limit the number of requested books to ten per day.
- By submitting an appointment, all patrons agree to abide by reading room guidelines including the MHS Collections Use Guidelines and researcher photography policy.
- Personal laptops and/or tablets are encouraged.
- MHS members may use a handheld non-flash camera (or camera phone) to capture content and by doing so agree to MHS photography policies (posted within the library as well).
- We encourage non-members who wish to use a camera to join prior to booking an appointment. Membership is open to everyone, with discounted rates for students and educators.
- Digital microfilm machines are available. Help save paper and consider bringing a flash drive if you plan to use microfilm.
- A researcher is not required to use the full six (6) hour appointment, but is allocated the 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. timeslot for the purposes of booking.
- Every person researching must register through the appointment process.
- Multiday appointments are available, but each day must be booked separately (the system only allows for single day bookings). Include all requested materials for the duration of your visit on the first day of your reservation. Please email research@mainehistory.org with questions.
- Walk-ins are welcome, but please note that requests for material made one hour or later before closing may not be accommodated, and manuscript or special collections are not paged on demand.
- The library is located at 485 Congress Street, between the Wadsworth-Longfellow House and the Time and Temperature Building.
- On-street, metered parking is available. There are also several parking garages located nearby, including the Arts District Garage (Cumberland, Brown, and Casco Streets), the Elm Street Garage, and the Cross Insurance Area Garage (Spring and Free Streets).
- Please let us know if you won't be joining us for an appointment.
- Appointments may be cancelled at any time in advance of the appointment day, but we'd appreciate at least 24 hours' notice, especially for materials retrieved from offsite.
- Please postpone or cancel your appointment if you are feeling unwell. We will gladly reschedule or refund use fees.
- MHS reserves the right to revoke research privileges for any reason.