In appreciation of their leadership support of the Newberry, members of the President's Fellows and the Newberry Associates at the Scholars level are invited to explore behind the scenes at the library.
In 1900 Edward E. Ayer, a member of the Newberry Library's Board of Trustees, began to donate thousands of pieces from his collection of rare books and manuscripts about Indigenous peoples in the Americas to the Newberry Library so that other scholars could have access to the material. Inspired by his own experiences fighting in the U.S. Army on the American frontier, Ayer sought out books and manuscripts that documented contact between Indigenous people and Europeans and Americans in Mexico, the United States, the Hawaiian Islands, and the Philippines. Join historian and Ayer Reference Librarian Seonaid Valiant, PhD, for a look at the colonial texts and artwork that Ayer acquired, such as the Popul Vuh, Bernardino Sahagun's Lectionary in Nahuatl, and original artwork made for Ayer by the Kiowa artist Silverhorn.