Library of Prehistory and Ethnography

“Together with the Museum, and necessary for its completion, I considered it useful to begin the collection of ethnological and paleo-ethnological publications… To the nascent library, in addition to many other works, I judged it opportune to give all the writings on Italian paleo-ethnology which I had succeeded in gathering, with not a few hours of effort, over the long period of twenty years. In short, as in what pertains to the various collections, also for this part I make it my duty to consider every gift that I receive as addressed to the Museum itself. My sole concern is that this Institute should succeed as much as possible in being useful to scholars.”

Luigi Pigorini, 1881

From the 1875 founding of the ‘Luigi Pigorini’ National Prehistoric Ethnographic Museum to the present day, the Library of Prehistory and Ethnography has served as a hub for studies of prehistoric archaeology and ethno-anthropology. Enriched through important purchases and bequests, now with more than 80,000 volumes, the library is the oldest and richest Italian collection of paleo-ethnological and ethno-anthropological bibliographic material and a true center of excellence for studies in the field.
The library continues to grow thanks to a dense network of exchanges of the Bullettino di Paletnologia Italiana and the Institute’s non-periodical issues for the publications of the most important national and international scientific institutions of archeology and ethnography.

Collections

• Pigorini Collection (1875-1925) – about 8,000 volumes and over 7,000 miscellanies on prehistoric and ethnographic subjects;
• Sir Edmund Leach Collection – over 7,000 volumes, 4,000 offprints and 75 periodical series on ethnoanthropological subjects [see collection catalog];
• Vittorio Lanternari Collection: about 3,500 volumes, 400 miscellanies, 200 periodical series and 150 dossiers on ethno-anthropological and religious-history topics;
• Current prehistoric and ethnoanthropological collections: 10,000 volumes;
• Periodicals: about 1,000 titles, 500 of which are current, fed by more than 400 exchanges between of the Bullettino di Paletnologia Italiana for an equal number of specialized journals from all over the world;
• Audiovisual section (activated 1990): videotapes, 35 and 16 mm microfilm reels (museum inventories, Giglioli and Loria photo archives, historical archives) and microfiches (Giglioli ethnographic collection catalog, London Museum of Mankind library catalog).

For information and access to the reference room of the Library of Prehistory and Ethnography, located at 14 Piazza Guglielmo Marconi, please contact the library staff at mu-civ.biblioteca@cultura.gov.it.