LaFayette: Citizen of Two Worlds

Cornell University Library celebrates the 250th anniversary of Lafayette’s birth with an exhibition drawn from its extensive Lafayette Collection, the largest of its kind outside of France.

On display in the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Carl A. Kroch Library, from September 25, 2007 - April 28, 2008, an online version of the exhibition may be read in either English or French

“Citizen of Two Worlds” Exhibition Press Kit

The Cornell Lafayette Collection

Formed in the 1960s through the generosity of Arthur H. and Mary Marden Dean, Cornell University’s Lafayette Collection is unparalleled outside of France as a resource on Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert Du Motier, marquis de LaFayette (1757-1834). With over 11,000 original manuscripts, documents, and letters, the collection is essential to any serious biographical work on General LaFayette and constitutes an important resource for the general study of late 18th- and early 19th-century France.

The Cornell Lafayette collection is part of the Library’s Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, and is a key component of Cornell Library’s rich holdings on the history and culture of 18th- and early 19th century France. The Division also features the French Revolution Collection, the Maurepas Collection, the Lavoisier Collection, the La Forte Archive, the Charles X Collection, and the Ben Grauer Collection. Together with extensive holdings in Enlightenment figures such as Rousseau and Montesquieu, these collections provide a comprehensive view of French political and social history from the Enlightenment through the Revolution, the Napoleonic period, and the Restoration.


LaFayette: Citizen of Two Worlds Cornell University Library celebrates the 250th anniversary of Lafayette’s birth with an exhibition drawn from its extensive Lafayette Collection, the largest of its kind outside of France. On display in the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Carl A. Kroch Library, from September 25, 2007 - April 28, 2008, an online version of the exhibition may be read in either English or French “Citizen of Two Worlds” Exhibition Press Kit The Cornell Lafayette Collection Formed in the 1960s through the generosity of Arthur H. and Mary Marden Dean, Cornell University’s Lafayette Collection is unparalleled outside of France as a resource on Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert Du Motier, marquis de LaFayette (1757-1834). With over 11,000 original manuscripts, documents, and letters, the collection is essential to any serious biographical work on General LaFayette and constitutes an important resource for the general study of late 18th- and early 19th-century France. The Cornell Lafayette collection is part of the Library’s Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, and is a key component of Cornell Library’s rich holdings on the history and culture of 18th- and early 19th century France. The Division also features the French Revolution Collection, the Maurepas Collection, the Lavoisier Collection, the La Forte Archive, the Charles X Collection, and the Ben Grauer Collection. Together with extensive holdings in Enlightenment figures such as Rousseau and Montesquieu, these collections provide a comprehensive view of French political and social history from the Enlightenment through the Revolution, the Napoleonic period, and the Restoration.