THE NEW YORK THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY

EMILY  SELLON MEMORIAL LIBRARY

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IMPORTANT NOTE: The library will be closed Dec.22 through Jan.03. We will re-open on Friday Jan.04.2008

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

The Emily Sellon Memorial Library is New York's premier Library for research on Theosophy and related fields of Esotericism, Religion, Philosophy and Science.  The Library maintains one of the best collections of the works of H.P. Blavatsky and related Theosophists on the East Coast, and is strong in areas of Gnosticism, Hermetica, Parapsychology, and the Healing Arts.  Its catalogue is available on-line at www.theosophical.org.

The origin of the Library goes back to 1875 when Madame Helena Blavatsky, Colonel H.S. Olcott and others founded the Theosophical Society in New York City.  As part of the organization's work provisions were made for establishing a Library and an attempt at accomplishing this was initiated. 

When the local branch was re-chartered in 1897 as the New York Theosophical Society, an effort was made to create the nucleus of such a Library.  By 1933, the collection had grown to the size of requiring a full-time librarian.  The job fell to Emily Sellon, who catalogued and worked out the system of classification now in use by the Library.  Emily was a great lover of books, and after her retirement from this post she and her husband, John Sellon, sustained her vision of maintaining such a collection through a generous endowment which has allowed the Library to become a major resource for material relating to the work of the Theosophical Society. 

• Membership in the Library is free for members in good standing of the New York Theosophical Society.

• Non-members of the Society may borrow books by applying for a patron registration form from the librarian, and paying a $20 annual user fee. 

• Members of the Library may borrow up to three books at a time for a period of four weeks.  Materials may be renewed unless reserved by another patron. 

• Library members will be charged ten cents a day per book for overdue books.

• Lost books will be charged at the replacement cost plus a $10 fee for processing.