Edmund Burke famously wrote of society as a partnership, across many generations, “not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born.” The Newberry Library constitutes such a partnership, too. From its founders in the late nineteenth century to today, farsighted men and women have worked here to assemble and preserve cultural treasures, for the use of scholars and other readers across 123 years, and for those who have not yet used the Newberry but someday will.
This annual report looks at one important dimension of the Newberry partnership between supporters and users who together continue to build a remarkable cultural legacy. Throughout this report you will find accounts of the ways in which donors and volunteers make it possible for readers to gain access to books, manuscripts, maps, and bibliographical and other services, and how the work of Fellows, genealogists, and students stimulates supporters to help. These are compelling stories about the value of the Newberry, and about how our partners in a grand, ever-growing legacy keep increasing that value with every passing year.