New Compact Shelving at the Newberry
A university student using a book from the Newberry collections for research
"National Melodies," James Francis Driscoll Collection of American Sheet Music
Greene, Community College Teachers Tour Chicago's Pullman District in 2011
New Compact Shelving at the Newberry

The Newberry has completed one of the most critical projects under the auspices of the Campaign for Tomorrow’s Newberry: the installation of compact shelving on three floors of its Stack Building. Made possible by the generous support of the late Gerald F. Fitzgerald, Sr., and his wife, Marjorie, the project has given the library a stunning 13.75 miles of new shelving and the equivalent of a full floor of additional storage.

A university student using a book from the Newberry collections for research

So much happens every day at the Newberry. We challenged Kartemquin Films to capture the story of the Newberry – our activities, our people, our collections, our community. We’re delighted with the result and we invite you to see the Newberry Library for yourself.

"National Melodies," James Francis Driscoll Collection of American Sheet Music
National Melodies. James Francis Driscoll Collection of American Sheet Music, The Newberry Library.

Today most Americans remember the War of 1812 for inspiring Francis Scott Key to write “The Star Spangled Banner.” Many of the conflict’s most familiar events—the battle of New Orleans, impressment of American sailors into the British Navy, and the British assault on Washington D.C.—took place far away from the Great Lakes.

Greene, Community College Teachers Tour Chicago's Pullman District in 2011

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has granted the Newberry $326,803 to help community college faculty enrich their students’ learning in the area of American religious pluralism.

Core Collections

Klaus Stopp, Printed birth and baptismal certificates.

Religion

The Newberry collection for religion focuses on sources from Europe and the Americas, from the late Middle Ages through the early 20th century.

E.H. Burbank, Chief Pretty Eagle (Crow). St. Xavier, MT, 1897.

American Indian and Indigenous Studies

As a collection of Americana, the Edward E. Ayer Collection is one of the best in the country and one of the strongest collections on American Indians.

Septentrionalium Terrarum descriptio.

Maps, Travel, and Exploration

The Newberry houses an extraordinary collection of over 500,000 maps and sources relating to the history and culture of travel.

Marbling on binding by Norma Rubovits.

History of the Book

The Newberry’s collection on the history of printing and the book arts is one of the world’s leading collections in its field.      

Recent Acquisitions

Institutio Christianae religionis

Jean Calvin’s Institutes

This is the first edition printed in England of Jean Calvin’s Institutes in the original Latin. In its earliest recension, the Institutes were published in Basel in 1536; the first English-languge edition was printed in London in 1561. Our copy has been copiously annotated by an anonymous sixteenth-century reader. Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century books with contemporary reader notes are by virtue of our online catalog easily retrievable. The Newberry has a number of sixteenth-century editions of Calvin’s Institutes with similar annotations.

The child’s companion and juvenile instructor

The Religious Tract Society was founded in 1799 as a publisher that issued religious tracts throughout England. Its aim was to promote literacy, religion, and appropriate behavior among the “lower classes.” The Society soon added material for children to its publication list, reprinting tracts by Hannah More and other 18th-century writers who composed works for young readers. This early juvenile periodical was issued monthly from 1846 to 1921 and contained stories with a heavy dose of moral instruction along with attractive woodcuts.