To the observer below, it may look like parts of the Newberry façade were given up on mid-construction. In fact, these “broken arches” were intentional, and they now serve as a vestige of a fascinating dispute over library design at the Newberry’s founding.

The year-long city-wide initiative, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the 1919 Chicago race riots, will engage Chicagoans in a series of conversations that examine race and racial discrimination through the lenses of policing, housing, migration, education, the media, and literature.

Commemorating the 200th anniversary of Melville’s birth, Melville: Finding America at Sea traces the arc of the author’s life and afterlife, from the marginal place in American letters he occupied during his lifetime to his current position at the center of the American literary canon.

December 31, 2018 marked the successful conclusion of the Newberry’s First and Foremost comprehensive campaign, a two-year fundraising initiative to support the library’s vision for expanding access to its world-class collection and promoting learning in the humanities.