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