The Newberry honored Henry Louis Gates, Jr. for his contributions to the humanities during the library’s annual Award Celebration on Friday, May 2, 2025.
Gates is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University. In addition, he is an Emmy, DuPont, and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker, literary scholar, cultural critic, and institution builder. He has published numerous books and produced and hosted an array of documentary films, including The Black Church (PBS), Frederick Douglass: In Five Speeches (HBO), Gospel (PBS), and Great Migrations (PBS). Finding Your Roots, Gates’s groundbreaking genealogy and genetics series, now in its eleventh season on PBS, was nominated for a Primetime Emmy (2024).
The Newberry is home to a vast collection that intersects with Gates' works on several fronts. From a rare set of lantern slides from the Great Migration and valuable resources for those researching African American ancestry to primary sources dating back to the early history of the United States of America, the Newberry continues to care for and grow a collection that surfaces countless important stories, both personal and historic.
Several hundred guests gathered to celebrate Gates, who was presented the Newberry Library Award by event chair and Newberry Trustee Gregory L. Barton. Gates was then joined in conversation by Newberry President and Librarian Astrida Orle Tantillo. The two discussed the importance of libraries such as the Newberry to those seeking to understand history. Gates discussed his early dream of being a librarian so that he could surround himself with books and spoke of libraries having a long view of history, collecting both that which is used in the current moment and that which remains shelved with the understanding that those categories will shift over time. The conversation ended with Gates discussing Finding Your Roots and recounting the powerful, personal, and sometimes emotional stories of discovery that come through genealogical research.
The Newberry’s genealogy collection is an invaluable resource for anyone researching their family history, especially those whose roots trace back to Chicago or the broader Midwest. Family and local histories, city directories, biographical tools, census data, land ownership maps, and immigration information—all of this resides at the Newberry and informs from where we’ve come.
“Among the Newberry’s greatest strengths are its collections related to genealogy and local history,” said Tantillo. “Henry Louis Gates keenly understands the importance of such collections to researchers doing the deeply personal work of tracing their family's history. It was an honor to celebrate his achievements in this area, as well as his acumen as a historian, and to reflect on the importance of institutions such as the Newberry as well as the often-transformative exploration of finding one’s roots.”
The Newberry Library Award is presented annually to recognize achievement in the humanities in the tradition of the Newberry, which has fostered a deeper understanding of our world by inspiring research and learning in the humanities since its founding in 1887. Past recipients include Drew Gilpin Faust, Arthur Kingsley Porter University Research Professor at Harvard University; documentarian Ken Burns; Ira Glass and This American Life; and Lonnie G. Bunch III, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.
All proceeds from the Award Celebration support the Newberry’s collection and programs.