In addition to the residential fellows, CHS and its library welcome a number of visitors throughout the year, scholars who may or may not be affiliated with Harvard. As the CHS library is a small and highly specialized library (ancient Greece, especially ancient Greek philology, philosophy, and history), visiting researchers, so called readers, must fill out an application form detailing their research needs to offer reasonable grounds for access to this library as opposed to the many larger and less specialized libraries in the area (for a list of academic and research libraries in DC, follow this link and scroll to the bottom of the page).
Once approved as a reader, a CHS ID card will be issued which allows readers to use the library as often or as little as they choose during the library’s opening hours, M-F 9:00 am-5:00 pm, without having to notify the CHS. The gate at 3100 Whitehaven St. is open during those hours, and once you arrive at the front door, please ring the doorbell to be let in. There is no separate security building as at Dumbarton Oaks.
Reader Eligibility
Reader access is available for individuals who meet one of the following criteria:
- Current Harvard faculty, fellows, and students. Scholars must be presently engaged in a specific research project which the strengths of our collection can support.
- Former CHS fellows.
- Scholars holding a doctorate in subjects collected at the Center for Hellenic Studies.
- Presently enrolled doctoral students and masters’ students who have satisfied all course requirements and are working on their dissertation/research project.
- Partners of current fellows who possess appropriate academic qualifications in their own right.
- Undergraduates who are majoring in classics and who are working on their senior theses may apply to use the library, but they must provide letters of recommendation from their thesis advisors.
- Applicants should demonstrate a strong need for access by providing titles and call numbers of those books at the Center for Hellenic Studies that cannot be found in other D.C.-area libraries, such as the Library of Congress.
Library Hours
- Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m. except for federal and staff holidays.
- Residential fellows have library access 24 hours a day, also during holidays.
Contacts
Rebecka Lindau, chief librarian
202-745-4433 rlindau@fas.harvard.edu
Sophie Boisseau, cataloguer
202-745-4413 boisseau@chs.hrvard.edu