The Phillips Library is the research and documentation division of the Peabody Essex Museum. As one of New England’s older libraries, the library has an international reputation as a major resource for maritime history and art, New England life and culture, American decorative arts, Asian art and culture, Native American history and art, the art and culture of Oceania, natural history and genealogy.

The library provides researchers, curators, and the general public access to 400,000 printed volumes, over a mile in linear feet of manuscripts, and an extensive collection of ephemera, broadsides, pamphlets, and a substantial run of periodicals. Located in two architecturally noted structures, the John Tucker Daland House and Plummer Hall, the research facility provides wireless Internet access to all researchers.