News

Selected stories from the Beinecke Library, YaleNews, and external media outlets (the latter noted by source in parentheses after title of article).

  • Bill Lowe Keeps The Renaissance Alive (New Haven Independent)

    June 14, 2023

    The group’s first number, ​“Us,” was part of Signifyin’ Natives, a suite of searching, excoriating, and invigorating music from composer and musician Bill Lowe that uses as its text passages from a Harlem Renaissance classic that, it turns out, has as much to say about the present as it did to its own time, a century ago. Lowe’s presentation of Signifyin’ Natives — at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library on Yale’s campus Tuesday afternoon — was a collaboration between the library and the International Festival of Arts and Ideas, running now through June 25.

  • No Metal Clips! Yale Archivist Offers Tips (New Haven Independent)

    June 9, 2023

    For people who have devoted their lives to organizing, Paula and Frank Panzarella have finally been able to confess: They are quite disorganized –what with a house full of flyers, posters, political buttons, a battalion’s worth of t‑shirts, white papers, position papers, an original of the Port Huron Statement, a mantle of other manifestos, diaries, and correspondence from decades of a meaningful life of political and social activism and organizing dating back to the 1960s. So now the question arises: What in the world to do with all of it? That sometimes overwhelming dilemma – and opportunity – is what brought them and two dozen other packrats and stewards of family photos and memorabilia to the community room of the Main Ives Branch of the New Haven Public Library at 133 Elm St. on smoky Wednesday night. There Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library archivist Jennifer Coggins was on hand to offer some hope, relief, and practical suggestions for how to keep documents safe, with an hour’s introductory lecture on preserving materials in different formats for future generations.

  • Twice as old as the Gutenberg Bible

    June 1, 2023

    Only two permanent exhibits grace the Beinecke Library’s magnificent mezzanine, which is lit by the glowing veins of enormous marble windows. To the left of the main entrance, visitors can find John James Audubon’s original Birds of North America—two massive volumes of watercolors. A small bronze case to the right housed, until recently, both volumes of Johannes Gutenberg’s 1455 Bible. Today, a single volume sits across from another important document in the history of printing: an eighth-century Buddhist text, displayed along with the wooden pagoda in which it was originally enclosed.

  • Students win prizes for essays on American and Western American history and culture

    May 26, 2023

    At this year’s graduation ceremonies, three prizes were awarded to Yale College seniors whose essays explored topics in the fields of Americana or Western Americana. Unlike the library’s three other senior essay prizes—for which students submit their own work for consideration—these prizes are awarded based on recommendations from faculty members. Each prize winner received $200 and an award certificate.

  • Yale Camerata to celebrate African American history and culture

    April 27, 2023

    As they prepared for the performance, the Camerata’s members had the opportunity to view materials at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, part of the Yale University Library, which highlight Hughes’ and Bonds’ friendship and their long-running artistic collaboration. The choir members took turns leafing through seven folders of correspondence between the poet and the composer, an archive that contains engrossing evidence of their intimate friendship.

  • Library Fellows present lightning talks on paper, poetry, protest, and more

    April 26, 2023

    Fellowship Program Director Jae Rossman invited six of this season’s residential fellows to share what they had been poring over in the Beinecke Library’s reading room. In March, the scholars delivered a series of five-minute lightning talks—illustrated with slide shows—to an audience gathered in Sterling Memorial Library lecture hall. Topics ranged from nuclear poetry, sound poetry, and writing paper to abolitionists and revolutionary thought. Images included typewritten poems, historic newspaper clippings, and photographs of desert landscapes.

  • Love, Judy Blume (Slate)

    April 22, 2023

    Blume’s letters are part of the collection of Yale University’s Beinecke Library, which the film’s directors, Davina Pardo and Leah Wolchok, visited for research. And while it tells two correspondents’ stories, they’re clearly stand-ins for dozens, hundreds, maybe thousands more letter-writers who developed relationships with Blume over the years. Kim, who is now 54 and a writer herself, told me, “If I poured so much emotion into my letters, and she was getting 1,000 or 2,000 a month, how much collective American emotion is in that collection … is beautiful.”

  • Library staff supports young historians in Connecticut History Day regional contests

    April 11, 2023

    “This was my first year taking part in the event,” Lerner said, “and it was Melissa Barton’s all-staff email that encouraged me to do so. I most enjoyed interviewing the students. Their engagement with primary sources was encouraging, as was their willingness to voice the frustrations and difficulties they encountered while researching and creating an exhibit. All students expressed a deep curiosity about their topics, and each ended up teaching me something new!”

  • Uncovering the link between 'Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing' and Yale's historic Beinecke Collection (Connecticut Public Radio/WNPR)

    March 23, 2023

    "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing," also known as the Black National Anthem, was adopted by the NAACP and prominently used as a rallying cry during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. This year, the song was performed at the Super Bowl by Waterbury native Sheryl Lee Ralph, an actress on “Abbott Elementary.” That’s not the song’s only tie to Connecticut.

  • By studying ancient residues, scholar finds clues of humanity’s past

    March 21, 2023

    The Peabody’s collections alone are an incredible resource but there’s so much more. I can consult rare primary sources at the Beinecke Library and Medical Historical Library, artifacts in the Yale Babylonian Collection and the Dura Europos collection at the Yale University Art Gallery. The university is uniting these collections so that scholars can easily work across them. That’s hugely important. You know how when we gaze at stars, we’re seeing a point of reference that originated thousands or millions of years ago? Yale’s collections are like human starlight. They capture and preserve evidence of how people lived hundreds and thousands of years ago. How they ate, drank, and healed themselves.

  • 8 Things To Do In New Haven: Complete Guide To Connecticut's Beloved City (The Travel)

    March 18, 2023

    For any book lover, library lover, or lover of anything historic or noteworthy, a trip to the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library is an essential stop on a trip to New Haven. This is another museum of sorts, located within the Yale University complex. The library houses some truly rare books, manuscripts, and important literary artifacts. Some areas require special access, but there is ample space where the public can view them. The library is quite impressive to take in, even if the visitor is not a big literary buff. With frequent exhibits and lots to learn and see, this is a great place to visit when in the vicinity of Yale.