Short Description

The Robbins Library is a non-circulating medieval studies library that contains comprehensive holdings across global medieval history, literature, art, and culture. The Robbins Library is also home to the Koller-Collins Center for English Studies, a non-circulating humanities research collection.

The Rossell Hope Robbins Library is a non-circulating medieval studies library at the University of Rochester, with significant holdings in vernacular literatures, Arthurian studies, material culture, the medieval Mediterranean, medieval history, the history of science, art and stained glass, philosophy, theology, manuscript studies, the history of the book, witchcraft, critical theory, and medievalism. It also has a substantial collection of medieval manuscripts, early print and other rare and unique materials, and artist books. The core collection was donated by noted Middle English scholar Rossell Hope Robbins and his wife, Helen Ann Mins Robbins. Helen Ann, Rossell, and his sister, Marjorie Hope Robbins, endowed ongoing acquisition of material.

The Robbins Library is also home to the Koller-Collins Center for English Studies, a reference collection for literary and cultural study, with major holdings in literary history, critical theory, the history of the book, and the digital humanities.

Our collections and spaces are open to all users. We do not require appointments.

Collections, Resources, and Information

Robbins Library Digital Resources

The Camelot Project
Arthurian texts, images, bibliographies, and basic information

METS (Middle English Texts Series)
Online full text of Middle English works, with glosses and notes

The Robin Hood Project
Texts, images, bibliographies, and basic information

The Crusades Project
The Crusades in English Literature

The Cinderella Bibliography
Annotated bibliography of Cinderella and Beauty & the Beast

Visualizing Chaucer
Images illustrating Chaucer's works and a bibliography of illustrated editions

 

 

Student Projects & Publications

Robbins Library and Koller-Collins Center Student Projects Collection
A collection of projects generated by graduate and undergraduate students affiliated with the Robbins Library and Koller-Collins Center at the University of Rochester and stored in UR's institutional repository.

Reclaiming the Death of a Beautiful Woman: Female Voices Adapting the Lady of Shalott (Margaret Sheble)
Digital exhibit that explores adaptations of the Lady of Shalott.

Mapping Movement in the Alliterative Morte Arthure (Steffi Delcourt)
Interactive map of spaces and places in the Middle English romance, the Alliterative Morte Arthure.

Medieval Hebrew Poetry (Esther Ben Ami)

Mailing Address
755 Library Road
Rochester NY 14627
Atmosphere
Classical furniture
Food Not Permitted
Quiet Study Spaces