The Newberry Library is an independent

research library A research library is a library that contains an in-depth collection of material on one or several subjects.(Young, 1983; p. 188) A research library will generally include an in-depth selection of materials on a particular topic or set of top ...

, 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 Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Work ...

and

secondary source In Scholarly method, scholarship, a secondary sourcePrimary, secondary and tertiar ...

s 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 The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States. Commonly referred to as the Burlington Route, the Burlington, CB&Q, or as the Q, it operated extensive trackage in the states of Colorado ...

*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 Federalist Papers'' is a collection of 85 articles and essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay under the collective pseudonym "Publius" to promote the ratification of the Constitution of the United States. The col ...

'' *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 Ledger art is narrative drawing or painting on paper or cloth, predominantly practiced by Plains Indian, but also from the Plateau and Great Basin. Ledger art flourished primarily from the 1860s to the 1920s. A revival of ledger art began in the ...

created by Northern

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. The Cheyenne comprise two Native American tribes, the Só'taeo'o or Só'taétaneo'o (more commonly spelled as Suhtai or Sutaio) and the (also spelled Tsitsistas, The term for th ...

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 Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kins ...

, including city directories, church and synagogue records, phonebooks, cemetery records, censuses, and newspapers like the ''

Chicago Daily News The ''Chicago Daily News'' was an afternoon daily newspaper in the midwestern United States, published between 1875 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois. History The ''Daily News'' was founded by Melville E. Stone, Percy Meggy, and William Dougherty ...

'', ''

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 ''The Chicago Defender'' is a Chicago-based online African-American newspaper. It was founded in 1905 by Robert S. Abbott and was once considered the "most important" newspaper of its kind. Abbott's newspaper reported and campaigned against Jim ...

'' *More than 2,500

incunable An incunable or incunabulum (: incunables or incunabula, respectively) is a book, pamphlet, or broadside that was printed in the earliest stages of printing in Europe, up to the year 1500. The specific date is essentially arbitrary, but the ...

s (books printed before 1501) *Artists’ books by contemporary midwestern and Chicago printers such as Jennifer Farrell and

Audrey Niffenegger Audrey Niffenegger (born June 13, 1963) is an American writer, artist, and academic. Her debut novel, '' The Time Traveler's Wife'', published in 2003, was a bestseller. Biography Audrey Niffenegger was born in 1963 in South Haven, Michigan. At ...

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 Abraham Ortelius (; also Ortels, Orthellius, Wortels; 4 or 14 April 152728 June 1598) was a cartographer, geographer, and cosmographer from Antwerp in the Spanish Netherlands. He is recognized as the creator of the first modern atlas, the ('' ...

, and

Mercator __NOTOC__ Mercator (Latin for "merchant") often refers to the Mercator projection, a cartographic projection named after its inventor, Gerardus Mercator. Mercator may refer to: People * Marius Mercator (c. 390–451), a Catholic ecclesiastica ...

*A wide array of 19th- and 20th-century guidebooks in various European languages *

Georgette de Montenay Georgette de Montenay (1540–1581) was the French author of ''Emblemes ou devises chrestiennes'', published in Lyon between 1567 and 1571. Montenay has always been regarded as a lady-in-waiting to Jeanne d'Albret, the Protestant Queen of Nav ...

’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 Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...

, and

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

*The

Curt Teich Curt Otto Teich (March 1877 – 1974) was an American Printer (publisher), publisher of German descent who produced popular color postcards, primarily of scenes from American life. He was a pioneer of the offset printing process. Under his manage ...

Postcard Archives Collection, which includes more than 500,000 unique

postcard A postcard or post card is a piece of thick paper or thin cardboard, typically rectangular, intended for writing and mailing without an envelope. Non-rectangular shapes may also be used but are rare. In some places, one can send a postcard f ...

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 Livestreaming, live-streaming, or live streaming is the streaming of video or audio in real time or near real time. While often referred to simply as ''streaming'', the real-time nature of livestreaming differentiates it from other non- live ...

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 Rebecca Makkai (born April 20, 1978) is an American novelist and short story writer. She is best known for writing '' The Great Believers'' (2018) and '' I Have Some Questions for You'' (2023), which have been positively received by critics and ...

, 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 Jill Wine-Banks (born May 5, 1943, as Jill Susan Wine

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 Hanif Abdurraqib (formerly Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib; born 1983) is an American poet, essayist, and cultural critic. His first essay collection, ''They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us'', was published in 2017. His 2021 essay collection ''A Little ...

. 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 Johannes Stradanus (Dutch ''Jan van der Straet'' or Italian ''Giovanni Stradano'';More name variations: Johannes Stradanus, Giovanni della Strada, Johannes della Strada, Giovanni Stradano, Johannes Stradano, Giovanni Stradanus, Johannes Stradanu ...

'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 Deborah Anne Cohen (born 1968) is an American historian of modern Europe and Britain. She is the Peter B. Ritzma Professor of the Humanities and Professor of History at Northwestern University and interim director of Northwestern's Roberta Buf ...

(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 Roosevelt University is a private university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1945, the university was named in honor of United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The university enrolls arou ...

, and the

University of Illinois Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a public research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus established under the Universi ...

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 Walter Loomis Newberry (September 18, 1804 – November 6, 1868) was the son of Amasa and Ruth (Warner) Newberry. He was an American businessman and philanthropist, whose will provided for the creation of the Newberry Library in Chicago, Illinois ...

, 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 William Frederick Poole (24 December 1821, Salem, Massachusetts – 1 March 1894) was an American bibliographer and librarian. Biography He graduated from Yale University in 1849, where he assisted John Edmands, who was a student at the Brothe ...

, 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 Henry Ives Cobb (August 19, 1859 – March 27, 1931) was an architect from the United States. Based in Chicago in the last decades of the 19th century, he was known for his designs in the Richardsonian Romanesque and Gothic revival, Victori ...

(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 An incunable or incunabulum (: incunables or incunabula, respectively) is a book, pamphlet, or broadside that was printed in the earliest stages of printing in Europe, up to the year 1500. The specific date is essentially arbitrary, but the ...

), 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 The John Crerar Library is a research library, which after a long history of independent operations, is now operated by the University of Chicago. Throughout its history, the library's technology resources have made it popular with Chicago-area ...

, 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 The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, commonly known as the Mellon Foundation, is a New York City-based private foundation with wealth accumulated by Andrew Mellon of the Mellon family of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is the product of the 1969 merger ...

, 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 Virginio Ferrari (born 19 October 1952) is an Italian former professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. His best season was in the 1979 500cc world championship, when he finished second to Kenny Roberts. Motorcycle racing career Ferrari ...

sculpture created in 1987 called ''Umanitá'' that greets visitors as they enter the Newberry Library. * 1987:

Paul Oskar Kristeller Paul Oskar Kristeller (May 22, 1905 in Berlin – June 7, 1999 in New York, United States) was a scholar of Renaissance humanism. He was awarded the Haskins Medal in 1992. He was last active as Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Columbia Uni ...

* 1990:

Jaroslav Pelikan Jaroslav Jan Pelikan Jr. (; December 17, 1923 – May 13, 2006) was an American scholar of the history of Christianity, Christian theology, and medieval intellectual history at Yale University. Early years Jaroslav Jan Pelikan Jr. was born on D ...

* Richard J. Franke * Ann Ida Gannon *

Lawrence Stone Lawrence Stone (4 December 1919 – 16 June 1999) was an English historian of early modern Britain, after a start to his career as an art historian of English medieval art. He is noted for his work on the English Civil War and the history of marri ...

* 2006:

Hanna Holborn Gray Hanna Holborn Gray (born October 25, 1930) is an American historian of Renaissance and Reformation political thought and Professor of History ''Emerita'' at the University of Chicago. She served as 10th president of the University of Chicago fro ...

* 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 Anthony Thomas Grafton (born May 21, 1950) is an American historian of early modern Europe and the Henry Putnam University Professor of History at Princeton University, where he is also the Director the Program in European Cultural Studies. He i ...

* 2009:

William Cronon William Cronon (born September 11, 1954) is an American environmental historian and the Frederick Jackson Turner and Vilas Research Professor of History, Geography, and Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He was presi ...

* 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 Robert Choate Darnton (born May 10, 1939) is an American cultural historian and academic librarian who specializes in 18th-century France. He was director of the Harvard University Library from 2007 to 2016. Life Darnton was born in New Yor ...

* 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:

* 2017:

Martin E. Marty Martin Emil Marty (February 5, 1928 – February 25, 2025) was an American Lutheran religious scholar who wrote extensively on religion in the United States. Biography Early life Marty was born on February 5, 1928, in West Point, Nebraska, ...

* 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 Ira Jeffrey Glass (; born March 3, 1959) is an American public radio personality. He is the host and producer of the radio and television series '' This American Life'' and has participated in other NPR programs, including ''Morning Edition'', ...

and ''

This American Life ''This American Life'' is a weekly hour-long American radio program produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media and hosted by Ira Glass. It is broadcast on numerous public radio stations in the United States and internationally, and is ...

'' * 2023:

Ken Burns Kenneth Lauren Burns (born July 29, 1953) is an American filmmaker known for his documentary films and television series, many of which chronicle American history and culture. His work is often produced in association with WETA-TV or the Nati ...

* 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. Henry Louis Gates Jr. (born September 16, 1950), popularly known by his childhood nickname "Skip", is an American literary critic, professor, historian, and filmmaker who serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and the director of t ...

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.
{{Authority control Library buildings completed in 1893 Libraries established in 1887 Libraries in Chicago Literary archives in the United States Research libraries in the United States Romanesque Revival architecture in Illinois Tourist attractions in Chicago Rare book libraries in the United States Special collections libraries in the United States