The Newberry Library is an independent research library, specializing in the

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...

. It is located in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, and has been free and open to the public since 1887. The Newberry's mission is to foster a deeper understanding of our world by inspiring research and learning in the humanities and encouraging conversations about ideas that matter. Its mission is rooted in a growing and accessible collection of rare and historical materials.

Collections

The Newberry’s collections contain primary and secondary sources spanning more than six centuries of history related primarily to the history, culture, and people of Western Europe and the Americas. Core collection strengths include: *American History and Culture *American Indian and Indigenous Studies *Chicago and the Midwest *Genealogy and Local History *History of the Book *Maps, Travel, and Exploration *Medieval, Renaissance, and Early Modern Studies *Modern Manuscripts and Archives *Performing Arts *Postcards *Religion The collection consists of about 1.6 million books; 600,000 maps; 1,300 distinct archival collections containing approximately 5 million manuscript pages; 500,000 different postcards; approximately 250,000 pieces of sheet music; and much more. Notable items held at the Newberry include: *Chicago's only copy of ''Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies'', commonly referred to as the

First Folio ''Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies'' is a collection of plays by William Shakespeare, commonly referred to by modern scholars as the First Folio, published in 1623, about seven years after Shakespeare's death. It is cons ...

*The archives of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad *Over 700

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

ary pamphlets *

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

’s own annotated copy of '' The Federalist'' *The first and second editions of the Eliot Bible *The

Popol Vuh ''Popol Vuh'' (also ''Popul Vuh'' or ''Pop Vuj'') is a text recounting the mythology and history of the Kʼicheʼ people of Guatemala, one of the Maya peoples who also inhabit the Mexican states of Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatan and Quintana Roo, ...

, which is the earliest surviving copy of the Mayan creation story * Ledger art created by Northern Cheyenne warrior-artists in the 1870s, as well as modern interpretations of the ledger art tradition by contemporary Native artists *A 1692 fur trade contract that has one of the first references to “Chicago” in writing *Maps, souvenirs, and ephemera from the

World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was a world's fair held in Chicago from May 5 to October 31, 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The ...

*The papers of journalist, playwright, and screenwriter

Ben Hecht Ben Hecht (; February 28, 1894 – April 18, 1964) was an American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, journalist, and novelist. A journalist in his youth, he went on to write 35 books and some of the most enjoyed screenplays and play ...

*Resources for genealogists, including city directories, church and synagogue records, phonebooks, cemetery records, censuses, and newspapers like the '' Chicago Daily News'', ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'', and '' Chicago Defender'' *More than 2,500 incunables (books printed before 1501) *Artists’ books by contemporary midwestern and Chicago printers such as Jennifer Farrell and Audrey Niffenegger *

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of world map, maps of Earth or of a continent or region of Earth. Advances in astronomy have also resulted in atlases of the celestial sphere or of other planets. Atlases have traditio ...

es of

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

, Ortelius, and Mercator *A wide array of 19th- and 20th-century guidebooks in various European languages * Georgette de Montenay’s 1571

emblem book An emblem book is a book collecting emblems (allegorical illustrations) with accompanying explanatory text, typically morals or poems. This category of books was popular in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries. Emblem books are collection ...

, which was the first of its kind published by a woman *Pre-1800 European and British literary, historical, and devotional manuscripts, printed books, and maps *The archival records of prominent Chicago dance companies like Hubbard Street Dance Company, Chicago City Ballet, and Joel Hall Dancers *Handwritten scores by

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

, Chopin, Mahler, and Wagner *The Curt Teich Postcard Archives Collection, which includes more than 500,000 unique postcard images *17th- and 18th-century Mexican choir books *

Martin Luther Martin Luther ( ; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, Theology, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and former Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. Luther was the seminal figure of the Reformation, Pr ...

’s pamphlets against the

papacy The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

As a non-circulating library, all collection items are made available free of charge on site to anyone who is 14 years of age or older. Reference staff are available in the Newberry's two reading rooms and in the Welcome Center just off the lobby. Reference librarians work with all readers and offer orientation, in-depth bibliographical instruction, and specialized assistance as needed. Many items from the Newberry’s collections are digitized and can be accessed online.

Offerings for the public

The Newberry offers free public programs, which are often livestreamed and shared on the library’s YouTube page. These programs explore a variety of topics related to the library’s collection strengths. Recent speakers include: Rebecca Makkai, Chicago-based author of ''The Great Believers''; Tiya Miles, Professor of History at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

and author of ''All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley's Sack, a Black Family Keepsake''; Jill Wine-Banks,

MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...

Legal Analyst; maritime archaeologist Mensun Bound; Elizabeth Ellis (Peoria Nation of Oklahoma), Associate Professor of History at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

; Mike Amezcua, Assistant Professor in the Department of History at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

and author of ''Making Mexican Chicago''; and poet, essayist, and cultural critic Hanif Abdurraqib. The Newberry mounts four free exhibitions a year in two gallery spaces. These exhibitions consist primarily of items from the library’s collections. Recent exhibitions include: *''Pictures from an Exposition: Visualizing the 1893 World's Fair'' (2018) *''The Legacy of Chicago Dance'' (2019) *''Renaissance Invention: Stradanus's "Nova Reperta"'' (2020) *''¡Viva la Libertad! Latin America and the Age of Revolutions'' (2021) *''A Show of Hands: Handwriting in the Age of Print'' (2022) *''Handmaidens for Travelers: The

Pullman Company The Pullman Company, founded by George Pullman, was a manufacturer of railroad cars in the mid-to-late 19th century through the first half of the 20th century, during the boom of railroads in the United States. Through rapid late-19th century d ...

Maids'' (2022) *''Pop-Up Books through the Ages'' (2023) *''A Night at Mister Kelly’s'' (2024) Adult education classes are offered throughout the year at the Newberry. Classes are either held at the library or virtually via Zoom. Led by experts in a variety of fields, these classes can help participants jumpstart or elevate their next learning endeavor. The Newberry Bookshop, located in the lobby of the library, curates a selection of books reflecting the Newberry's collection strengths and upcoming public programming. It also sells goods such as cards, posters, puzzles, and literary action figures.

Resources for scholars, students, and teachers

Beginning in 1944 with a grant from the

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The foundation was created by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller (" ...

, the Newberry began hosting researchers from different disciplines and backgrounds for both short- and long-term fellowships. These fellows form a close community during their time at the Newberry and continue to build their relationships with one another and with the library long after they leave. Researchers with long-term fellowships spend four to nine months at the Newberry. Researchers with short-term fellowships spend one to two months at the library. Newberry fellows often produce works that stems from their research at the library. Examples of recent books by former Newberry fellows include: *''Only the Clothes on Her Back'' by Laura Edwards (Long-Term Fellow 2019-20) *''Last Call at the Hotel Imperial'' by Deborah Cohen (Long-Term Fellow 2019-20) *''Botanical Entanglements: Women, Natural Science, and the Arts in Eighteenth-Century England'' by Anna Katie Sagal (Long-Term Fellow 2017-18) The library offers a series of content-based professional development seminars for teachers. Led by scholars and educators from the Chicagoland area and beyond, these humanities-focused seminars create space for teachers to connect with peers, explore the Newberry’s collection as scholars, and learn to use primary sources in the classroom. The Newberry Library Undergraduate Seminar (NLUS) offers select students from

DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from ...

Loyola University Chicago Loyola University Chicago (Loyola or LUC) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1870 by the Society of Jesus, Loyola is one of the largest Catholic Church, ...

, Roosevelt University, and the University of Illinois Chicago the chance to participate in an intensive research seminar inspired by the Newberry’s collection. During their semester at the library, students attend seminar meetings and learn to conduct research. Students work closely with Newberry staff to form research questions before venturing into the archives on their own. The seminar culminates in a major research paper and presentation.

Research Centers

The Newberry is home to three research centers: *Center for

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

Studies * D’Arcy McNickle Center for American Indian and Indigenous Studies *Hermon Dunlap Smith Center for the History of

Cartography Cartography (; from , 'papyrus, sheet of paper, map'; and , 'write') is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an imagined reality) can ...

Early history

The Newberry was established in 1887 as the result of a bequest by Walter Loomis Newberry, an early Chicago resident and business leader involved in banking, shipping, real estate, and other commercial ventures. Newberry died at sea in 1868, while on a trip to France. He included in his will a provision of funds for the creation of a "free public library" should his daughters die without heirs. They did, and so, following the death of Newberry's widow, Julia Butler Newberry, in 1885, it was up to Newberry estate trustees William H. Bradley and Eliphalet W. Blatchford to bring the library to fruition. Without much direction (Newberry did not leave behind many details regarding his vision for the library) and without its founder's personal collection as a foundation (Newberry's own collection of books perished in the Great Fire of 1871), the first officers and staff members were instrumental in forming the character of the Newberry. The Newberry's first librarian, William Frederick Poole, was a major figure in the library world when he came to the Newberry. Poole saw the Newberry as a blank canvas on which he could project his ideas, which included and perhaps found their most impassioned articulation in the design and construction of libraries. In 1887–88 it was located at 90 La Salle Street, in 1889–90 at 338 Ontario Street, and in 1890-93 at the northwest corner of State and Oak Streets. The present building, designed by Poole and architect Henry Ives Cobb (1859–1931), opened in 1893. It is located at 60 West Walton Street, across from Washington Square. It is a structure in the Spanish Romanesque architectural style, built of Connecticut granite. Poole and Cobb feuded bitterly over their different visions for the library building. Poole favored a number of reading rooms with open shelving of materials that could be easily accessed by patrons; Cobb preferred the majestic grandiosity in vogue in Europe and the centralization of collection items. Poole's influence with the library's trustees coerced Cobb to temper the grand staircase he had envisioned and to accommodate open shelving. Over time, however, the open shelving put too much strain on the Newberry's staff and the security of its collections, and the library converted to a centralized storage system. Poole served as Newberry librarian until his death in 1894. Under his leadership, the library built broad reference collections useful to many different Chicagoans, especially professionals and tradespeople. The Newberry's medical department, created in 1890, is an example of this emphasis. Poole also steered the Newberry toward the acquisition of rare materials for use by professional scholars. Two ''en bloc'' acquisitions made during his tenure, the private collections of Henry Probasco and Count Pio Resse, yielded notable rarities in music and early printed specimens ( incunables), as well as Shakespeare folios and editions of Homer, Dante, and Horace. To focus its own collecting and to avoid the duplication of resources in Chicago at large, the Newberry entered into a cooperative agreement in 1896 with the

Chicago Public Library The Chicago Public Library (CPL) is the public library system that serves the Chicago, City of Chicago in the U.S. state of Illinois. It consists of 81 locations, including a central library, three regional libraries, and branches distributed thr ...

and the John Crerar Library, by which each institution would specialize in certain fields of knowledge and areas of service. As a consequence, the Newberry came to specialize in the humanities, and the natural sciences became the province of the Crerar. The Newberry immediately transferred to the Crerar its holdings in this area, including its copy of Audubon's ''Birds of America''. The Newberry's medical department was transferred to the Crerar in 1906.

President and Librarian

Since its founding in 1887, the Newberry Library has had ten president and librarians and one interim president and librarian. * William F. Poole (1887–1894) * John Vance Cheney (1894–1909) *W. N. C. Carlton (1909–1920) *George B. Utley (1920–1942) * Stanley Pargellis (1942–1962) *Lawrence W. Towner (1962–1986) *Charles T. Cullen (1986–2005) * David Spadafora (2005–2019) *Daniel Greene (2019–2023) * Gail Kern Paster (interim president and librarian, April–October 2023) *Astrida Orle Tantillo (December 2023–current)

Newberry Library Award

In 1987, the Newberry established the Newberry Library Award in honor of its 100th anniversary. The award is an honor bestowed to individuals, and in the case of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, organizations, who have made "outstanding contributions to the humanities, particularly in fields of endeavor related to the Newberry’s collection." The award itself is a scale-sized model of the full-sized Virginio Ferrari sculpture created in 1987 called ''Umanitá'' that greets visitors as they enter the Newberry Library. * 1987: Paul Oskar Kristeller * 1990: Jaroslav Pelikan * Richard J. Franke * Ann Ida Gannon * Lawrence Stone * 2006: Hanna Holborn Gray * 2007:

Richard M. Daley Richard Michael Daley (born April 24, 1942) is an American politician who served as the 54th mayor of Chicago, Illinois, from 1989 to 2011. Daley was elected mayor in 1989 and was reelected five times until declining to run for a seventh ter ...

* 2008: Anthony Grafton * 2009: William Cronon * 2010:

Jonathan Spence Jonathan Dermot Spence (11 August 1936 – 25 December 2021) was a British-American historian, Sinology, sinologist, and author specialised in History of China, Chinese history. He was Sterling Professor of History at Yale University from 199 ...

* 2011: Robert Darnton * 2012: Francis Christopher Oakley * 2013:

David McCullough David Gaub McCullough (; July 7, 1933 – August 7, 2022) was an American popular historian. He was a two-time winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. In 2006, he was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United S ...

* 2014: Roger Baskes * 2015:

Stacy Schiff Stacy Madeleine Schiff (born October 26, 1961) is an American essayist. Her biography of Véra Nabokov won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize in biography. Schiff has also written biographies of French aviator and author of '' The Little Prince'', Antoine ...

* 2016: Andrew W. Mellon Foundation * 2017: Martin E. Marty * 2018:

Carla Hayden Carla Diane Hayden (born August 10, 1952) is an American librarian who served as the 14th librarian of Congress. Hayden was both the first African American and the first woman to hold this post. Appointed in 2016, she was the first professional ...

* 2019:

Marilynne Robinson Marilynne Summers Robinson (born November 26, 1943) is an American novelist and essayist. Across her writing career, Robinson has received numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2005, National Humanities Medal in 2012, and th ...

* 2021: Lonnie G. Bunch III * 2022: Ira Glass and '' This American Life'' * 2023: Ken Burns * 2024:

Drew Gilpin Faust Catharine Drew Gilpin Faust (born September 18, 1947) is an American historian who served as the 28th president of Harvard University, the first woman in that role. She was Harvard's first president since 1672 without an undergraduate or graduat ...

* 2025: Henry Louis Gates Jr.

The Pattis Family Foundation Chicago Book Award at the Newberry Library

The Pattis Family Foundation Chicago Book Award at the Newberry Library is presented annually to a book that transforms public understanding of Chicago, its history, or its people. The prize, established in 2021 by The Pattis Family Foundation in partnership with the Newberry Library, brings attention to publications that advance greater insight into the city among a general readership while resonating with the Newberry’s collections related to the history and people of Chicago. The award-winning author(s) will receive a prize of $25,000. 2022 awardee: Dawn Turner, ''Three Girls from Bronzeville'' (Simon & Schuster) 2022 shortlist recipients: *Elly Fishman, ''Refugee High: Coming of Age in America'' (The New Press) *Tim Samuelson, ''Louis Sullivan’s Idea'' (Alphawood Foundation; distributed by University of Minnesota Press). Edited and designed by Chris Ware *William Sites, ''Sun Ra’s Chicago: Afrofuturism and the City'' (University of Chicago Press) *Carl Smith, ''Chicago’s Great Fire: The Destruction and Resurrection of an Iconic American City'' (Atlantic Monthly Press) 2023 awardee: Toya Wolfe, ''Last Summer on State Street'' (William Morrow) 2023 shortlist recipient: Heather Hendershot, ''When the News Broke: Chicago 1968 and the Polarizing of America'' (University of Chicago Press) 2024 awardee: Thomas Leslie, ''Chicago Skyscrapers, 1934-1986: How Technology, Politics, Finance, and Race Reshaped the City'' (University of Illinois Press) 2024 shortlist recipient: John William Nelson, ''Muddy Ground: Native Peoples, Chicago's Portage, and the Transformation of a Continent'' (University of North Carolina Press)

References

External links

*
Digital Newberry
– online access to more than one million digitized items from the Newberry's collections

on

Encyclopedia of Chicago ''The Encyclopedia of Chicago'' is a historical reference work covering Chicago and the entire Chicago metropolitan area published by the University of Chicago Press. Released in October 2004, the work is the result of a ten-year collaboration ...

Chicago Foreign Language Press Survey selected news articles from the foreign language press from 1855 to 1938.
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