With 30 color photographs and illustrations, this catalog from the Newberry Library’s Centennial exhibit in 1987 provides a modest yet rich introduction to the Newberry’s remarkable history and collections.
Published to commemorate our anniversary, The Newberry 125: Stories of Our Collection features images and essays highlighting 125 outstanding items from our collections. Each item is presented with a one- or two-page spread that includes stunning high-resolution photographs and an essay by a Newberry curator, librarian, or researcher documenting the item’s historical context, literary significance, and amusing tidbits about production, reception, and provenance.
Arranged so as to tell both the story of the library as an institution and its collecting history, The Newberry 125 covers a wide range of topics, including American culture; the history of Chicago and the Midwest; geography and exploration; religion; music and dance; medieval and Renaissance studies; and the indigenous peoples of North America.
The collection includes items as varied as a painting by 19th-century artist Elbridge Ayer Burbank; the correspondence between Ernest Hemingway and Sherwood Anderson; the earliest print version of Voltaire’s Candide; and a copy of Ptolemy’s Geographia that dates from the fifteenth century.
The Newberry 125 serves as a wonderful introduction to our collection and provides a new and fascinating lens through which visitors can view our library.