Book Heritage

Approximately 40,000 items. Among the most significant fonds are those relating to Mazzini (approximately 9,000 autographs, mostly letters by and to Giuseppe Mazzini; of particular value is the E. Nathan’s collection of autographs owned by Jessie White Mario), Foscolo (autographs, letters, manuscripts and documents from the Chiarini and Bianchini collections; first printed editions of Foscolo’s works, prints and photographs of the poet) and Guerrazzi (purchased in 1932 by the scholar Pietro Miniati; includes autographs of some of Francesco Domenico Guerrazzi’s writings, 215 autograph letters, both published and unpublished, and various notes, as well as approximately 4,000 editions of his works).

There are also autograph letters of Crispi, Cavour, Garibaldi, Pisacane and other protagonists of 19th and 20th century Italian history, papers of political personalities from the liberal era and the fascist period, as well as some 1915-1918 war diaries.

Edicts, proclamations, manifestos and flyers
70,000 printed documents including notices, proclamations, edicts, notifications of the pre-unification Italian states from the end of the 18th century to the Unification, mainly from the Risorgimento period. The material is divided by state and arranged chronologically.

Volumes and brochures

Approximately 600,000 volumes and pamphlets, the oldest core comes from the ‘Risorgimento Section’ of the Vittorio Emanuele II National Library in Rome. (cf. Archives of Libraries. For the History of State Public Libraries , Rome, Edizioni di storia e letteratura, 2002, pp. 219-230)

Special Collections

200 editions from the 16th-17th centuries, 3500 editions from the 18th century, 2500 editions from the period 1789-1799 (cf: A nation to regenerate. Catalogue of Italian editions 1789-1799 , edited by Valeria Cremona, Rosanna De Longis, Lauro Rossi, Naples, Vivarium, 1994), 56,000 19th century editions, 300 Capolago editions, 2,000 publications from the Napoleonic period 1801-1815, approximately 3,000 documents and pamphlets from the pre-Risorgimento period (cf, The Dawn of the Risorgimento. 1830-31 in the Library of Modern and Contemporary History , in ‘Accademie e biblioteche d’Italia’, no. 1-4/2011, pp. 39-44), over 5,000 documents on the Roman Republic of 1849 (cf. Paola Gioia, The Risorgimento online. The database www.repubblicaromana.it , in ‘Accademie e biblioteche d’Italia’, no. 1-4/2011, pp. 62-66), 250 publications related to Freemasonry, 830 anarchist pamphlets, about 10,000 printed documents related to the First World War, published by various organisations, mainly local authorities, in the years 1915-1918, aimed at propaganda and war subscriptions. The collection contains posters, posters, calendars, obituaries and billboards (cf.: Paola Gioia, Progetto immagini della Grande Guerra in ‘Digitalia’, no. 2, 2007, pp. 107-109; Paola Gioia, Marco Pizzo, Adriano Santiemma Ricordando la Prima Guerra mondiale in ‘Digitalia’, no. 1, 2012, pp. 67-81; Simonetta Buttò, Propaganda e mobilitazione civile nelle raccolte della Biblioteca di storia moderna e contemporanea in ‘La Prima guerra mondiale 1914-1918, materiali e fonti, Roma, Gangemi, 2014, pp. 44-49; Oriana Rizzuto, Mondiale/globale: la Grande Guerra nel web in ‘Accademie e biblioteche d’Italia’, n. 3-4/2014, pp. 23-28); Spartiti musicali 470 documenti (cf.: Spartiti musicali dal Risorgimento alla prima guerra mondiale: 1846-1919, Roma, Fratelli Palombi, 1978; Gisella Bochicchio, Nel bicentenario verdiano in ‘Accademie e biblioteche d’Italia’, n. 3-4/2013, pp. 116-117; Oriana Rizzuto, Cantare la patria: il fondo di spartiti musicali della Biblioteca di storia moderna e contemporanea, in ‘Accademie e biblioteche d’Italia’, no. 3-4/2013, pp. 31-39)

Collections

• Nello Ajello 2571 documents: gift from the heirs of the journalist and essayist
• Luciano Cafagna 3189 documenti: dono degli eredi dello storico
• Edizioni nazionali: Raccolta completa delle Edizioni nazionali degli autori italiani, pubblicate per iniziativa dello Stato
• Ferretti 181 documenti: dono della storica Maria Ferretti
• Graziosi 1531 documenti: dono dello storico Andrea Graziosi
• Lavaggi 827 documenti: dono degli eredi dell’avvocato Gabriele Lavaggi
• Lecco 1548 documenti: dono della bibliotecaria Elisabetta Lecco
• Lucchesi 879 documenti: dono degli eredi del professor Sergio Lucchesi
• Melograni 546 documenti: dono dello storico Piero Melograni
• Milano 1261 documenti: dono degli eredi dello studioso Roberto Milano
• Nelson Gay 1.500 documenti: dono del Centro studi americani
• Pennati about 1000 monographs and 65 periodicals (see Introduction to Periodici italiani 1919-1943 nelle raccolte della Biblioteca di storia moderna e contemporanea, edited by Eugenio Semboloni and Susanna Spezia ; preface by Alberto Petrucciani, Rome, Biblink , 2015, pp. 13-25)
• Pezzella 1,630 documents: Christianity and history of religions, gift of the heirs of historian Sosio Pezzella
• Rossi 2,120 documents: history of sport, gift of the librarian and scholar from Lauro Rossi (link fondo rossi.pdf).
• Malta about 1000 editions from the 16th-20th centuries from the Deputation of Homeland History for Malta
• Santarelli: 12.650 opuscoli e numeri unici di storia contemporanea, provenienti dalla raccolta dello storico Enzo Santarelli (cfr.: Alessandra Scaccia, Leggere e interpretare: fonti e scrittura della storia nel Fondo Santarelli della Biblioteca di storia moderna e contemporanea, in “Accademie e biblioteche d’Italia”, n. 1-2/2013, pp. 22-29 )
• Vighy 631: dono degli eredi della scrittrice e bibliotecaria Cesarina Vighy
• Vinciguerra 3.250: opere di storia, letteratura e filosofia, donate da Mario Vinciguerra; Inventario

Periodicals

Approximately 12,000 titles, of which 3,500 are current – in print or electronic format on databases Jstor, Project muse e Historical abstracts, circa 2000 dei secoli XVIII-XIX (cfr. Periodici dei secoli XVIII e XIX, a cura di Adriana Martinoli, Roma, Biblioteca di storia moderna e contemporanea, 1989), 3000 giornali e periodici della Prima Guerra mondiale, italiani e stranieri. (cfr. Eugenio Semboloni, “Novecento periodico”: la società italiana nello specchio della stampascaccia_santarelli_accademie_biblioteche.pdf, in “Accademie e biblioteche d’Italia”, n. 3-4/2010, pp. 102-104)

Iconographic material

Much of the iconographic material has been digitised and can be consulted on the Digiteca.

Posters

approximately 200 illustrated posters of the Great War, mostly related to the subscription of the six national war loans launched in the years 1915-1919, as well as some of the Red Cross and assistance committees. (cf. Illustrated Posters of the Great War, edited by Marzia Miele and Cesarina Vighy, Rome, Fratelli Palombi, 1997); approximately 9,000 posters from the years 1945-2012 documenting the activities of parties, trade unions and other political, recreational, social and religious organisations (cf. Oriana Rizzuto, Republican Italy in posters. The collection of the Library of Modern and Contemporary History , in “Accademie e biblioteche d’Italia”, n. 3-4/2016, pp. 28-33

Prints and Engravings

about 2000 prints of mainly Risorgimento subjects, some of satirical character, collected in albums, series, bound volumes or loose sheets.

Postcards

about 200 picture postcards on historical themes, such as the postcards from the album dedicated to G. Garibaldi on the centenary of his birth, the ‘Danza macabra’ series by A. Martini, the 150 postcards from the First World War.

Photographs

About 8,000 photos. The most significant collections are: 41 salted papers by S. Lecchi (cf. Stefano Lecchi. A photographer and the Roman Republic of 1849 , edited by Maria Pia Critelli, Rome, Retablo, 2001), 60 watercolour albums from the late 19th century, about 1700 loose photographs from the First World War, and 300 photos in albums, 700 photos from Italian Somalia, 150 from the Italian colony Eritrea.

Maps and charts

200 geographical and topographical maps of historical interest, in particular relating to the battles of the Wars of Independence and the 1915-1918 World War.

Material Documents

240 items including art objects and historical documents relating to personalities from the 18th-20th centuries, donated by historian Francesco Margiotta Broglio (see Alessandra Scaccia, La curiosità narra la storia, in ‘Accademie e biblioteche d’Italia’, no. 3-4/2016, pp. 34-40)

Microfilm

Approximately 4,000 microfilm reels in 35 or 16 mm, on which rare and valuable material is reproduced, as well as some issues of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century periodicals, collections of edicts and announcements, daily and weekly newspapers.