National Watch and Clock Library
The National Watch and Clock Library is one of the world's pre-eminent libraries devoted to horology and is located in Columbia, Pennsylvania, USA.
It is operated by the National Association of Watch and Clocks Collectors for the benefit of both the public and the members of the association. It is a sister institution to the National Watch and Clock Museum.
The library is open to the public, who is invited to use the collection on the premises. Books are only lent to members of the NAWCC.
The Collection
The collection covers material on timekeeping, time and timekeepers in a dozen different languages. In addition to its book collection of about 10,000 titles (some of them dating back to the 16th century), the library has over 1,000 different videos (both VCR and DVD formats), a comprehensive collection of horological periodicals (both current and historic) from around the world, many thousands of historic catalogs of watches and clocks, as well as masses of archival material chronicling the history of timekeepers, including the research papers of many prominent American horological scholars of the past.
Sister Organisations
Sister public institutions serving similar purposes include:
- The Library of the Clockmaker's Company at Guildhall, London, United Kingdom,
- The Library of the British Horological Institute, in Upton, Newark-on-Trent, United Kingdom,
- The Library of the Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Chronometrie in Nuernberg, in Nuremburg, Germany and
- The Library at the Mussee Internationale d'Horlogerie in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland.