William Morris Hunt Memorial Library

The William Morris Hunt Memorial Library is the main research library of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Additionally, there are eight smaller satellite libraries attached to Curatorial and Conservation departments. Over these nine locations are more than 500,000 items including artist monographs, catalogues raisoneé, periodicals, auction catalogs, collection catalogs, and artists' books as well as pamphlets and ephemera collections. This large collections reflects the encyclopedic nature of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston object collection, by encompassing materials of multiple geographic locations and languages that cover the history of art and material culture from pre-history to the present.

The William Morris Hunt Memorial Library primarily supports MFA staff and volunteers in facilitating research for exhibitions, objects, provenance, and education programs. The library has also welcomed visitors from the local community including college students, scholars, and collectors. Additionally, the library extends its reference service to the international scholarly community, partner institutions, and individuals by hosting visiting scholars and researchers on site, responding to reference inquiries, and electronically providing access to the holdings.