The Newberry acquires and preserves a broad array of books, manuscripts, maps, and other materials relating to the civilizations of Europe and the Americas. We focus our collecting on original or primary source materials – such as manuscripts and early editions of printed books and maps – that will be preserved and made available for generations. In doing so, we aspire to enhance the great collection strengths that have been built by curators, librarians, other scholars, and donors throughout the library’s history.
We also selectively acquire secondary literature – scholarly editions of primary sources, reference tools, monographs, journals, and digital resources – in order to facilitate access to and use of our original source materials.
Collection development results from the collaboration of curators, librarians, and other scholars and reflects the continuity and diversity of the collection and its use. We take into account the nature of our existing collection as well as trends in scholarship, the availability of potential gifts, and the marketplaces for library materials.
We build our collection through purchases and gifts, recognizing that each of these modes of adding to the collection has been and will continue to be essential to the Newberry.
If you wish to consult Newberry staff about an area of the collection or are considering a gift of materials to the collection, you are welcome to get in touch with a curator or librarian, listed below by collecting areas. For other questions about Newberry collecting, contact us at collecting@newberry.org.
Contacts for Collecting Areas
Maps, Travel, and Exploration
James R. Akerman
Curator of Maps, and Director of the Hermon Dunlap Smith Center for the History of Cartography
akermanj@newberry.org, (312) 255-3523
North American History, Literature, and Culture; North and South American Indian and Indigenous Studies; Colonial-era Latin America and the Philippines; Reference
Will Hansen
Curator of Americana, and Director of Reader Services
hansenw@newberry.org, (312) 255-3527
American Manuscripts and Archival Collections (1700-present)
Martha Briggs
Lloyd Lewis Curator of Modern Manuscripts
briggsm@newberry.org, (312) 255-3554
English History and Literature
Jill Gage
Reference Librarian
gagej@newberry.org, (312) 255-3635
Continental European History, Literature, and Culture; History of Printing and the Book Arts
Paul F. Gehl
George Amos Poole III Curator of Rare Books, and Custodian of the John M. Wing Foundation on the History of Printing
gehlp@newberry.org, (312) 255-3645
Librarianship
Alan Leopold
Director of Collection Services
leopolda@newberry.org, (312) 255-3629
Genealogy and Local History
Matthew Rutherford
Curator of Genealogy and Local History
rutherfordm@newberry.org, (312) 255-3671
Music
Carla Zecher
Curator of Music, and Director of the Center for Renaissance Studies
zecherc@newberry.org, (312) 255-3565