Historic Diocesan Archives's library of Prato

Presentation of the library

The library was established together with the Historic Diocesan Archives in 1981.
The whole material is divided into several funds that reflect the brief history of the institution:

1. Diocesan Fund:
   It consists of about 5.200 volumes of ecclesiastical history, canon law, liturgy and popular piety, art, minor art, local history. The liturgical books are noteworthy, many of them are in book sizes of the XVI-XX century, with art bindings, cover pages, prints, ornately decorated initials and the book print brands. There is a very interesting section that consist of more than 1.200 titles of sources of medieval history, art history and minor arts (including enamels, ivories, gold, silver , textiles and sculptures) and, finally, the local history (with rare editions of legal texts and prints).
    
2. Fund Cariprato-Cassa di risparmio di Prato:
   It consists of about 8.000 volumes relating to the economical-political-financial sector, however, with a marked prevalence of history, literature, art and history of Tuscany. It includes also encyclopaedias and dictionaries of specialist consultation, among which you can find the best-known dictionaries of art history (Thieme-Becker, Benezit, Lexicon der Kunst, Colnaghi, Berenson, Bolaffi), of church history and Christian theology (de Théologie catholique, de la Biblie, d'archeologie chretienne, de droit chanonique, ecc.), next to the great historical dictionaries (Crusca, dialect dictionaries). The fund is available in electronic format CDS/TECA; there are also printed catalogues available by authors and subject (DDC ed. 20).
    
3. Fund of the Professor Luigi M. Personè (1902), writer, essayist and journalist:
   It consists of approximately 13.000 volumes of Italian literature, especially of the twentieth century, dramatic literature and theatre of the series Vallecchi, Sansoni, Laterza Utet, Olsckhi, texts and reviews of Tuscan painters of the first half of the nineteenth century. The fund will be integrated by the archive of Personè, consisting of correspondence (over 5000 letters) with Italian and foreign personages of literature of the twentieth century, theatre and art, and a almost complete collection of manuscripts and articles written by Personè and published in several Italian newspapers form 1930 onward. The library collection is available in electronic format CDS/TECA; there are also printed catalogues available by authors and subjects (DDC ed. 20).
    
4. Fund Società pratese di storia patria (Association of Prato for homeland history):
   It consist of more than 200 periodicals and Italian and foreign historical magazines and about 2.000 volumes of historical sources, especially medieval art history and dialect vocabularies. Through the usual mechanism of change is received by the Società le pubblicazioni di Deputazioni di storia patria, historical, artistic and archaeological societies, historical foreign institutions, important publications to document the local culture in various fields, as well as the activities of institutions, libraries and archives. The Società pratese di storia patria has its own annual report, the "Archivio storico pratese", started in 1916, which hosts major studies and essays on local history in all its aspects. The counting of periodicals in the library relating to essays of economic history, can be consulted on the website of the database of the International Institute of Economic History Francesco Datini of Prato.
    
5. Fund Monastery of S. Vincenzo:
   It consist of approximately 2000 volumes of Ricci sources, valuable editions of Prato and Italy of the 19th century (with incunabula of the 16th century). The fund can be consulted in electronic format CDS/TECA, there are also printed catalogues available by author and subject (DDC ed. 20/21).
    
6. Photo library:
   It consists of over 7.000 slides, colour photos, black and white photos of artworks of the ecclesiastical institutions of the Diocese of Prato.

Resorces

• Owned books: 30.200 (ancient ones 3.000; 19th century 8.000; 20th – 21st century 20.000);
• Current periodicals: 180;
• Photo library ( slides, colour photos, black and white photos '800-'900).

Reading seats

16

Service

• Photocopies;
• Microfilms;
• Information and study advise;
• Consultation;
• Certifications;
• Interlibrary loan.