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Mellon Institute Library Special Collections: Home

A brief history of the Mellon Institute and a description and listing of the materials held in the library's special collection.

History of Mellon Institute Library

Image By David Watson

The Mellon Institute, located at 4400 Fifth Avenue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, was developed in 1913 out of the innovative research initiatives of Andrew W. Mellon and Richard B. Mellon. The building was dedicated and opened on May 6 - 9, 1937. The Institute offers special research facilities, classrooms, and laboratories. The Mellon brothers envisioned an institute which would bring forth industrial progress through the sciences and thus improve human welfare. In 1967 The Mellon Institute merged with the Carnegie Institute of Technology to form Carnegie-Mellon University.

The vision of Andrew W. Mellon and Richard B. Mellon can be seen through the mission of the Mellon Institute Library... to support and contribute to the teaching, research, artistic and other scholarly endeavors of the university, to acquire, organize, make accessible, maintain and perserve information resources for optimal use, and to contribute to and disseminate knowledge about library services, resources and access to distributed information.

Students, faculty and staff can check out books in the circulation office, which also offers services including, Interlibrary Loan, Reserve, and Reference assistance. Although the main Reading Room offers a generous amount of space for studying, each area of the library offers researchers and students the option of individual study alcoves and/or group study space.

The Mellon Institute libray has a unique floor plan which enables it to house scientific resources in the subjects of chemistry and biology. The main Reading Room, which is on the main entry level, holds reference books, journals and current periodicals dating from 1995 to the present. Furthermore, the Mellon Institute Library maintains a Special Collection of library material specific to the sciences, innovators, and industrial researchers of Mellon Institute.

Contact Information

For more information about the Mellon Institute Special Collection, please contact the University Archives.

Julia Corrin
​University Archivist
412-268-5021 (Archives)
412-268-7402 (office)

Special Thanks

I would like to thank  Richelle Charles, Varina Jones, and  Sara Parme for helping create this  research guide. All three worked at the Mellon Institute Library as Information Assistants.