NL Archives 15/01/02
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| 1915 Newberry Library Staff NL Archives 15/01/02 |
The Newberry Library has been open to the public for over 100 years. In 1887, Walter L. Newberry estate trustees Eliphalet W. Blatchford and William Bradley, in accordance with the contingent provisions of the Newberry will, established a free public library on the near north side of Chicago with half of a 4.5 million dollar estate. Under the direction of the trustees and Librarian William Frederick Poole (1887-1894), the new library assumed the outlines of its modern shape: a public, non-circulating reference library housing a research collection focused on the humanities in Western Europe and America.
The Archives of the Newberry Library (960 cubic feet), comprising the Library's institutional records, the records of the Newberry estate, and the personal papers of staff members and trustees, are remarkable for the completeness of their documentation of a particular library type -- the independent research library of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Beginning with Newberry estate trustees Blatchford and Bradley, individuals associated with the Newberry Library have conscientiously preserved the great majority of the library's operational records. Virtually complete Board of Trustees records and the administrative files and personal papers of Newberry trustee founders and donors (Blatchford, Edward E. Ayer, Robert B. Greenlee, Everett D. Graff) and of Newberry Librarians (Poole, John V. Cheney, W.N.C. Carlton, George B. Utley, Stanley Pargellis, Lawrence W. Towner) contain a wealth of information on the establishment and operation of the library, its growth and transformation over time, and its active participation in the cultural and intellectual life of Chicago and the nation.
Extensive records of library divisions and departments also document finances, personnel, collection development and management, and programs for scholarly and public outreach. In addition, the records of the Newberry estate contain significant information on the activities of a wealthy Chicago family, 1868-1885, and on real property and its development in Chicago, Cook County, and Wisconsin during the same period. The Archives also holds numerous photographs dating from the 1890s of the library building, of staff and readers, and of library events and exhibitions. Also included is a very complete set of publications issued by the Library.
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| Newberry Library Reading Room, 1894 NL Archives 15/01/03, Box 5 |
The following are among the topics covered:
Finding Aids: