Support Us!

The Friends of the Keller Library group actively supports and promotes the Library of The General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church. Membership helps to preserve and expand the Library’s collections and to advocate for a strong library.

The Friends will:

  • Maintain an association of persons interested in the Library, its collections, and facilities
  • Promote the preservation of the Library’s collections
  • Stimulate greater awareness of the importance of the Library to the development of the Seminary, the Episcopal Church and Anglicanism, and to the world of scholarship
  • Sponsor exhibits, lectures, publications, and other special programs designed to encourage appreciation of the work of the Library
  • Develop support for the Library in the form of endowments, memorials and other gifts
  • Raise funds for the preservation and conservation of library books, etc.
  • Promote the enrichment of the Library and the General Theological Seminary

Membership Categories
You are invited to join the Friends of the Keller Library in their efforts by subscribing with annual dues in one of the following categories:

Premium membership includes all the benefits of general membership plus borrowing privileges and insider access.
$1,000 Pintard Circle
$500 Whittingham Society

General membership includes reading privileges and access to the Close, invitations to programs, and reference help by phone or email.

$250 McVickar Society
$100 Sonne Circle
$50 Supporters
$15 Students (suggested donation)

Join by sending a check payable to The General Theological Seminary with the note “Friends of the Keller Library” on the memo line to the address above.

All gifts are tax deductible.

For more information, please contact
Mr. Patrick Cates, Interim Library Manager
cates@gts.edu or 212.243.5150 x354

Our Founders
John Pintard was a businessman and supporter of arts and letters in early nineteenth-century New York. He was one of the founders of the New York Historical Society and was one of the strongest early supporters of the General Theological Seminary and the founder of its Library.

The Rt. Rev. William R. Whittingham, Bishop of Maryland from 1840 to 1879, was Librarian of the General Theological Seminary from 1825 to 1829 and from 1836 to 1840. He was also Professor of Ecclesiastical History from 1836 to 1840. In Maryland, he established the largest and most distinguished diocesan library in North America.

The Rev. John McVickar was a professor at Columbia College and a strong supporter of the General Theological Seminary and its library. In the 1830s, his efforts led to the establishment of a substantial endowment of the Library and expansion of its collections.

Niels H. Sonne was Librarian of the General Theological Seminary from 1947-1975. Dr. Sonne supervised the design and construction of St. Mark’s Library. He expanded the rare book collections and made their display more prominent.

The Christoph Keller, Jr. Library building is closed.

The library's physical collections are not available to patrons, as GTS transitions to future uses of this space. 

                                                                         

Learn about The Way of Wisdom Declaration by our Faculty,
and discover more about the Way of Wisdom in the
Keller Library News.