1926-1948

The establishment of the library dates to the time of the British Mandate, probably in 1926, when a decision was reached to sever the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem from the Department of Antiquities (Palestine Government). Until that year the two institutions were managed by a single director, Professor John Garstang, who was the first director of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem, starting in 1919, and of the Department of Antiquities from 1920. In 1926 Garstang resigned from the former institution and became the full-time director of the Department of Antiquities

Between 1921 and 1930 the British School of Archaeology and the Department of Antiquities shared the same building, called “Way House”. This building stood on Museum Road, named after the museum of the Mandatory Department of Antiquities (after the Six Day War the structure was demolished and the name of the street was changed to that of Rehov Piqqud ha-Merkaz. From January 1930 until May 1935 the Department of Antiquities used exclusively “Way House” which housed both the museum and the independent library.

During the 1930’s the library underwent a dramatic change after John D. Rockefeller Jr. donated two million dollars in 1929. One million was spent for the construction of a new edifice to accommodate the archaeological museum, the library, the store rooms, and the headquarter of the Department of Antiquities including the equipment. The other million was invested in a fund whose profits were dedicated to finance the activities and salaries of the employees.

The library was spread over an extensive area; it was paved with noise absorbing cork tiles and its walls were treated with acoustic plaster. Thanks to another generous contribution of approximately fifty thousand dollars, books and periodicals were purchased, some of which were rare and hard-to-come by for that period. This donation also permitted the library to expand its areas of expertise (among those recommending specific books for the library was Professor William F. Albright). These turned the library in the "Rockefeller Museum" into the most important archaeological library in the Middle East.

The move into the "Palestine Archaeological Museum" (universally called the "Rockefeller Museum") occurred in May 1935. The official opening, planned for January 13, 1938 was cancelled due to the murder of James L. Starkey on his way to the ceremony from his excavations at Lachish.

During this period the use of the library was restricted to archaeologists, researchers in related fields and students; the library was open daily from 09:00-16:30, except for one day a year when it was closed on the King’s birthday. The users were issued a special reader’s card that was renewed annually. They could also recommend the purchase of specific publications on a special form that was sent to the director by mail. By 1937 mutual cooperation already existed between the archaeological library and the "Jewish National and University Library", to which was sent a copy of each catalogue card.

Another unique characteristic of this library is its one-of-a-kind classification system.

1948-1967

With the fall of East Jerusalem to the Arab Legion in 1948, West Jerusalem and the "Israel Department of Antiquities" were left without a significant archaeological library. From 1948-1967 a new archaeological library that began with only one hundred volumes and a central catalogue of the private libraries in Jerusalem, which was prepared prior to the siege, was established in the “Department of Antiquities” and afterwards in the “Department of Antiquities and Museums”.  Over the years this library grew to include some 12,000 volumes and approximately 300 periodicals, half of them received in exchange for copies of ‘Atiqot and other publications printed in the country. This exchange of journals continues to the present day and almost 200 institutions participate in this arrangement. 

The library of the “Department of Antiquities and Museums” was housed in a number of different locations in Jerusalem. At first it was located in the "Department of Public Works" building on the

ha-Nevi'im Street and later in the "Palace Hotel" building on Agron Street. From there it was moved to the Department’s headquarters on King  Solomon Street, and later to what became the “Foreign Cultures Hall" in the "Israel Museum" building.

1967 to the Present

After the Six Day War the library of the “Department of Antiquities and Museums”, under the direction of Dr. Milka Cassuto-Saltzmann, returned to the "Rockefeller Museum" and was consolidated with the Mandatory Library, which had collected almost no new volumes throughout the entire period of separation. Mr. Hasan ‘Alami, who worked in the "Rockefeller Library" during all of the period of Jordanian rule, continued to serve in the united library until 1989.

At the end of the 1980’s the library received books from the bequest of Dr. Richard Barnett of London, who had been Keeper of Western Asiatic Antiquities in the British Museum (1987) and of Dr. Fritz Berger of Netanya, who worked for many years in the “Department” as a guard and antiquities inspector (1988). Since 1993 the library has been equipped with a computerized catalogue system.

Today the library houses the oldest and most extensive collection of publications on the archaeology of the Land of Israel. The library’s fields of specialty include: reports of archaeological excavations in the Land of Israel and neighboring countries, including the Ancient Near East, Egypt, Anatolia, the Classical world around the Mediterranean and Black Seas; ancient art; numismatics; ancient history; historical sources, sojourn accounts (c. 400, some of which are extremely rare); epigraphy; glyptics etc. There are over 25,000 volumes and archaeological reports and over 1,000 different periodicals in the library’s collection. The amount of titles in the library numbers in excess of 100,000.

The computerized library will soon be upgraded with the “Aleph 500” system. With the transition the catalogue will also be changed to MARC, searches will be conducted in a “Windows” environment and one will be able to access references in libraries both in <st1:country-region>Israel</st1:country-region> and abroad. The importance of the library has grown with the computerization of more than 70,000 articles and their analytical sorting.

The Directors of the Archaeological Library:

Dr. Leo Arieh Mayer served from 1927 as Librarian and Records Officer (archive) of the “Department of Antiquities” and was responsible for the organization of the library, which was then already referred to as the “Library of the Archaeological Museum of Palestine”. After Dr. Mayer left this position in the beginning of 1933 (following his appointment as professor in the Hebrew University in 1932), his place was filled, probably by Michael Avi-Yonah. From 1939 until 1948 the position of “Museum Librarian” was held by Dr. Immanuel Ben-Dor. In 1931 Mr. Michael Avi-Yonah was appointed deputy librarian and afterwards director of the archives, a position he held until 1948. During these years he also edited the journal QDAP (the Quarterly of the Department of Antiquities in Palestine) of the Mandatory Department of Antiquities.

 In 1990 the library of the “Israel Department of Antiquities and Museums” became the “Israel Antiquities Authority Library”. The Israeli library was directed from 1948 by Dr. Milka Cassuto-Saltzmann (1948-1973), Mrs. Wanda Aftergood (1973-1982), Mrs. Giovanna Barouch (01.11.1982-30.04.2002) and Mr. Baruch Brandl (1.5.2002 –to the present).