New York Public Library Research

09/15/2026

The NYPL Art & Architecture Collection invited American Art Catalogues to curate a selection of ephemera from the artist files of Jared Buckhiester, Robert Gober, Walker Evans, and Nancy Shaver. American Art Catalogues centers books and presentations that document distinct bodies of artists’ work, developed in close collaboration with the artists themselves. The NYPL Art & Architecture Collection holds the complete American Art Catalogues bibliography.

Since its inception, the Art & Architecture Collection has collected and preserved ephemera as it relates to the lives, practice, and careers of individual artists. The Artist Files, over 60,000 of them, consist of exhibition announcements, postcard invitations, pamphlets, press releases, image lists, checklists, clippings of magazine or newspaper interviews, clippings of show reviews, obituaries, and posters, and other printed matter that was originally intended to survive only a short time.

The selections are on view in the south end of the Rose Main Reading Room this month. Learn more: https://on.nypl.org/4AeEeOn

09/14/2026

09/12/2026

American artist Ben Shahn was born on this day in 1898.

Shahn was a longtime friend of NYPL's Picture Collection, as seen in this 1967 photograph of Shahn with Picture Collection curator Romana Javitz. The Picture Collection has a number of his posters from the 1940s to the 1960s, including posters for the Works Progress Administration and the CIO Political Action Committee.

Learn more about the Picture Collection: https://on.nypl.org/4gPPxF1

09/11/2026

09/10/2026

It's Library Open House Week, and we can't wait to welcome you to our flagship library on 42nd Street!

This extended week offers many opportunities to learn about our collections and offerings. Visit our exhibitions, including a brand-new display celebrating 100 years of Winnie-the-Pooh, join a class, get a look inside our reading rooms, snag giveaways, and much more!

Learn more: https://on.nypl.org/4gVtwmT

09/09/2026

After the events of September 11, 2001, more than 300 dogs were deployed in and around the wreckage of Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan. These K-9 teams played many roles in the months after the tragedy, initially searching for potential survivors, then helping to recover the bodies of victims. They also provided comfort to first responders and grieving families.

Ten years later, Charlotte Dumas traveled across America to photograph the last 15 surviving search-and-recovery dogs. These tender, noble portraits of the 9/11 canines in their old age serve as a decennial remembrance of the events of 9/11 beyond the day itself, honoring the labor and support the dogs provided to their human counterparts. They are currently on view in the Polonsky Exhibition of the Library's Treasures.

📷 Moxie, Winthrop, MA; Bailey II, Franklin, TN; Scout, McCordsville, IN; Merlyn I, Otis, CO. © Charlotte Dumas, 2011. The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, Photography Collection.

09/08/2026

Happy 60th birthday, Star Trek! The original series of Star Trek premiered on this day in 1966. The show has truly lived long and prospered. 🖖

Although it is set in the future, Star Trek is full of literary and historical references. Explore some allusions from the various series that connect to items in our research collections.

09/07/2026

Happy Labor Day!

The New York Public Library holds rich collections documenting labor movements and organizations in New York City, the United States, and beyond. Check out our research guide to find collections related to labor unions and trade unionism: https://on.nypl.org/4ijDwcj

🖼️ Labor Day, ca. 1950. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Art and Artifacts Division. ID: 59014705.

09/04/2026

Long before Mark Zuckerberg created a social network called Facebook, this face book was created to help NYPL's director remember the names of employees.

The book includes photos and names of research library staff between 1930 and 1945, including librarians, administrators, and facilities staff, grouped by the room they worked in.

09/03/2026

As NYPL marks 250 years of the United States with our exhibition 'Declaring America: 1776 and Beyond,' which includes 'Art as Declaration,' staff from the Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection present 'Literature as Declaration': a selection of materials that surveys how American writers have celebrated, chronicled, and challenged the promises of the country's founding documents—and how literature has been and continues to be used to promote civic engagement.

These works reveal how writers have played an essential role in the ongoing conversation about what it means to be American, what America is, and what it could be. Explore philosophy, poetry, novels, and nonfiction by Walt Whitman, Amiri Baraka, Annie Proulx, Paul Auster, and more.

Read more in the blog post: https://on.nypl.org/4ycEM5n