The library of the “George Bariţiu” Institute of History is a specialised department that emerged with the establishment of the institute.
Its collection was built up over time through donations, exchanges, acquisitions, and subscriptions, including periodicals and books related to the history of Romania, universal history, Slavic history, and the history of culture, among others.
On December 31, 2019, the library held a total of 28,364 volumes, comprising 21,524 books and 6,840 periodicals.
The donations came from the Romanian Academy, the former Directorate of Schools (Casa Şcoalelor), as well as from cultural, scientific, and church institutions, and private individuals. Among the donors, we can mention famous names in Romanian culture, such as Vintilă Brătianu, Valeriu Branişte, Vasile Bogrea, and Ioan Lupaş, as well as renowned professors and researchers, including Vasile Pușcaș, and those from abroad, such as Lauro Grassi, who donated over 500 volumes to the library. Additionally, researchers from our Institute, during their study trips abroad, brought, through the exchange of publications or donations, some of the latest publications in the field.
The library owns a heritage collection, totalling 645 volumes of rare books published since the mid-16th century. They are copies of great value, belonging to the fund of Romanian and universal history, as well as periodicals and dictionaries. Thus, the library owns Istoria pentru începutul Românilor în Dachia by Petru Maior, published in Buda in 1812, the Pravila Îndreptarea legii which appeared in Târgovişte in 1652, the Noul Testament from Bălgrad (Alba Iulia) from 1648, Evangelia printed at Dealu Monastery in 1644, Gaspareus’ Rerum Hungaricarum historia from 1604, Approbatae constitutiones regni Transylvaniae et partium Hungariae from 1653, Eutropius’ Breviarum Romanae Historiae, Dimitrie Cantemir’s book published in Hamburg in 1745 – Geschichte des osmanischen Reiches, books by Bonfinius, Georgius Pray, Montesquieu, Voltaire and many others.
The library’s collection of periodicals comprises over 1,000 titles, including prestigious publications such as the Annals of the Romanian Academy, as well as yearbooks from renowned cultural institutions. The periodical collection consists of an impressive number of magazines from the 19th and early 20th centuries. At the same time, through subscriptions and exchanges, the library tries to maintain the continuity of the periodicals published in recent years. The library also owns 40 newspapers from the 19th and 20th centuries, including Albina, Drapelul from Lugoj, Federaţiuna, Gazeta Transilvaniei, Observatorul from Sibiu, Telegraful român, and Tribuna.
The Slavic history collection of the library includes about 2000 volumes, books on the history and civilisation of the Slavic peoples.
The library has a reading room with 40 seats. The users of our library are primarily researchers from the “George Bariţiu” Institute of History, professors from the Faculty of History and Philosophy of the University of Cluj, colleagues from other university centres, researchers from the Institutes of the Romanian Academy from other cities, as well as a large number of students.
The library’s reading room also houses its catalogues, in which book cards are arranged in alphabetical or thematic order.
Digital Library
Historical bibliography of Romania
Documents concerning the 1848 Revolution in the Romanian Principalities
