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Darlington Collection


The Darlington Collection is extensive collection of rare documents, maps, and other historical material focusing on early American history, particularly that of Western Pennsylvania. The original material is housed by the Archives Services Center (ASC) of the library of the University of Pittsburgh with digitized material available at the Darlington Digital Library.

William Darlington was an attorney from Pittsburgh and spent much of his life collecting maps. Some of these date back to the 1500s. The earliest maps of the New World are also part of the collection Devoted much of his 74 years to collecting some of the earliest printed maps of the New World. Both William and Mary researched and published about the French and Indian War and to the history of Western Pennsylvania and the Ohio Valley thereby acquiring a large amount of material on the subjects. Mr. Darlington died in 1889, his wife Mary, continued to acquire materials since she also had an interest in history and art. The Darlington's children, son O’Hara and daughters Mary and Edith, also added to the family collection. This family's interest in historical materials resulted in what was then believed to be the largest private library west of the Alleghenies. In 1918, they gave their initial donation of eleven thousand volumes to the University of Pittsburgh. The remainder of the family's library and a large part of the family's estate was bequeathed to the university in 1925.

From 1936 to 2009, the collection was housed in special library space on the sixth floor of the main building of the university, the Cathedral of Learning. This space was constructed and furnished with antiques that were bequeathed to the university by the Darlington family, and features moldings and green walls that are duplicated from the 18th mansion Graeme Park, a Pennsylvania colonial-era governor’s residence. The library was entered through a memorial vestibule and consisted of a central room with eight alcoves and contained, among other notable furnishings, a wrought iron entrance gate by Samuel Yellin.


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