The Lilly Library is the rare books, manuscripts, and special collections library of the Indiana University Libraries, Bloomington. Its collections represent a diversity of subjects, including literature; children’s literature; history; folklore; science; radio, film and television; book collecting and bookselling; journalism; and translation.
The Bright mss., 1832-1873, are mainly letters from, to, and about Jesse David Bright, 1812-1875, U.S. senator. The collection is made up of reproductions (i.e. photostats, typescripts, xerox copies, and microfilms), of material in other libraries, collected by Wayne J. Van der Weele for his doctoral dissertation "Jesse David Bright, master politician from the Old Northwest," at Indiana University, 1958.
The Brooks mss., 1838-1845, consist of letters to Thomas Jefferson Brooks at Mt. Pleasant, Martin County, Indiana, from John Bell of Louisville, Kentucky, agent for trustees of Bell Evans Co., Daniel Hunt of Boston, Massachusetts, David Jones of Belleville, Illinois, Nancy Newell of Pittsford, Virginia, George Brown, Henry B. Shields, Thomas Lacy Smith, and Charles Woodruff of New Albany, Indiana; and to Lewis Brooks at New Albany, Indiana, from Rufus Brown of Mt. Pleasant, Indiana.
The Brown county, Ind., History mss., 1858-1889, consist of election records, school records, bids for paupers, service on roads receipts, and other items, for Johnson township, Brown County, Indiana.
The Browning mss., ca. 1846-1878, consist primarily of letters from poets Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 1806-1861, and Robert Browning, 1812-1889, to Sarianna Browning, 1814-1903, Robert Browning's sister.
The Bruce mss., 1857-1873, consist of correspondence from Alexander H.B. Bruce, Executive Officer, British Army, India, and from his wife Lizzy, to Alex's sister Jane, about the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857-1858.
The Bryan mss., 1849-1863, are chiefly the letters of George Washington Bryan, 1825-1893, physician, exchanged with his wife, Alice (Calhoun) Bryan, during his period of service in 1862-63 with the Union forces along the Mississippi River on the steamers Glasgow, the Tigress, the P. J. Pringle, and at Young's Point, Louisiana.
The Burnham mss., 1848-1977, consist of the papers of Indiana University administrator, Walter Erastus Burnham, 1905-1980, and of his parents, grandparents and other family members.