Monday to Friday: 8:30 am - 4:30 pm
Request items and reserve a seat at least 7 calendar days in advance.
Here is what you need to know before visiting the reading room.
For keyword searches, consider trying one-word searches first to receive a wide range of results. When you enter several search terms, only results containing all terms will be shown. Especially when using search terms in foreign languages, consider trying alternate spellings.
Searches on the Online Archive of California (OAC) will bring up a list of relevant collections. Click on the underlined collection titles to go to the finding aid of individual collections. Highlights and arrows will lead you to each place in the finding aid where the search term is found.
Bonus tip (works for both SearchWorks and OAC): If you find one result that is particularly relevant, look at the subject terms assigned to it and try performing a search for similar or related materials by clicking on the applicable subject term(s).
Questions? Email hoover-library-archives@stanford.edu
Aeon is the Library & Archives' online request and reservation system. To create an account, go to the following link and click "register": https://hoover.aeon.atlas-sys.com. Once you have made an account, you can make reservations, request materials for your visit, and request one free folder of reference imaging per year and high-resolution digitization for a fee. Through Aeon, you can also track the status of requests, access detailed information about past requests, request library material directly from SearchWorks, our online catalog, and request archival material directly from collection finding aids on the Online Archive of California.
The OAC contains finding aids for all of the archival collections held by the Hoover Library & Archives–over 6,500 collections and growing. Collections are listed alphabetically and can be accessed using the letters in the left sidebar. Collections from individuals are titled with the individual's last name, while collections from organizations are titled with the organization's name. If you would like to conduct a search instead of browsing, use the search function in the left sidebar. Once you have completed a search, you can refine your search results using the limiters in the right sidebar. These limiters will allow you to narrow your search by date, subject, or place.
Searchworks is Stanford University's online catalog, providing bibliographic records for materials held by all campus repositories, including the Hoover Institution Library & Archives. It includes catalog records for both library materials-such as books, periodicals, and other rare publications-and collection-level records for archival holdings. Researchers can only locate Hoover's library materials through SearchWorks. It also includes catalog records for individual newspaper titles housed within Hoover's archival newspaper country collections. To view Hoover's library material specifically, refine your search by selecting "Hoover Institution Library & Archives" as a repository from the SearchWorks homepage or within the search filters.
Select digitized items are accessible online via the Hoover Institution's Digital Collections. The Hoover Institution is currently in the process of transitioning to a new digital collections site, Digital Collections 2. Until this process is complete, digitized content will be split between the Hoover Institution's original Digital Collections database and the new Digital Collections 2 database. Digital Collections (DC1) is the Hoover Institution's legacy collection of digital materials, and it contains digitized posters, photographs, manuscripts, moving images, sound recordings, and other historical materials. Digital Collections 2 (DC2) contains all archival material digitized since 2020. The Hoover Institution Library & Archives is continuously adding new material to the site and importing records from Digital Collections to Digital Collections 2.
WE ARE OPEN
Monday - Friday
Reading Room
8:30 am - 4:30 pm
(by reservation)
Hoover Tower
Exhibitions & Observation Deck
10:00 am - 4:00 pm
We are closed for major holidays, Stanford home football games, and campus winter closure.
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434 Galvez Mall,
Stanford University, CA 94305
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