ABIGAIL Online Catalog



Welcome to ABIGAIL, the Massachusetts Historical Society's online catalog. ABIGAIL (which stands for Automated Bibliographic Information Gateway And Internet Link) will eventually provide access to all of the MHS's collections, but it is a work in progress. At present, the catalog contains only the following:

• Almost 3,600 descriptions of manuscript collections, approximately 99% of the Society’s manuscript holdings. Descriptions of approximately 350,000 manuscript items are available on microfiche at the Society. Most of the item descriptions also have been reproduced in the Catalog of Manuscripts of the Massachusetts Historical Society published by G.K. Hall in 1969 and in a 1980 supplement, available at many libraries.
• 150,000 descriptions of books and other printed materials. This number includes our biography, local history, and general research collections, early imprints, newspapers, and the majority of our broadside collection. Pamphlets published after 1820 are the only major category of material not represented in ABIGAIL; access to the bulk of that collection remains the card catalog.
• 380 descriptions of photograph collections. Most of the approximately 120,000 separate items in the photograph collections are or will be cataloged by collection, rather than as individual items, but 50,000 photographs are currently described through a combination of online finding aids and ABIGAIL records. There are separate catalog descriptions for 800 individual images in the Society’s daguerreotype and ambrotype collection in ABIGAIL.
• Approximately 700 records for works of art in the MHS collection. This includes portraits, paintings, silhouettes, sculpture, and miniature portraits.

MHS Now offers free wireless internet access. Ask a librarian for details.

Since ABIGAIL will be "under construction" for quite some time, please consult the card catalogs or a reference librarian if you do not find what you are looking for in the online catalog. Please press the Begin Search link below to begin your search.