Room 26 Cabinet of Curiosities

New acquisitions, unique documents, and visual and textual curiosities from the collections.

  • Whisper Campaign

    August 9, 2010

    An issue of Whisper from June, 1956, an example of the gossip-fueled tabloids that multiplied in the 1950s, answering (and creating) the American public’...
  • Versos of a few framed paintings in the Beinecke Library's collection.

    Frame backs

    August 5, 2010

    Versos of a few framed paintings in the Beinecke Library’s collection...
  • The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library

    Broken

    August 2, 2010

    Faithful readers may have noticed that links to many images in older blog posts are broken. This is the result of moving files to a new server location. Please...
  • The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library

    The American Woods

    July 26, 2010

    Romeyn B. Hough, The American Woods, Exhibited by Actual Specimens and with Copious Explanatory Text , Lowville, N.Y., 1888-1910, v.1-v.11; each part consists...
  • Mabel Dodge Luhan, Frieda Lawrence, and Dorothy Brett on Mrs. Lawrence’s porch, near Taos, 1938

    Now We Are Three

    July 19, 2010

    In honor of the third anniversary of the launch of the Room 26 Cabinet of Curiosities… Mabel Dodge Luhan, Frieda Lawrence, and Dorothy Brett on Mrs...
  • Frank Leslie’s boys and girls weekly; an illustrated record of outdoor and home amusements. New York, Frank Leslie. Vol. 27, No. 687 (December 20, 1879).

    Bicycle fever

    July 16, 2010

    “The New Bicycle Fever.-The four days’ bicycle contest for the Championship of the World, recently held in Boston. Harry Etherington, W. Cann, and C. Terront,...

  • Practical Ostrich Feather Dyer

    July 12, 2010

    The Practical Ostrich Feather Dyer / by Alexander Paul; revised and corrected by Dr. M. Frank. Philadelphia: Published by Mrs. Dr. M. Frank, “Textile Colorist...
  • Photographs of the Villa Lewaro, A’Lelia Walker’s country estate in Irvington-on-Hudson, New York, no date.

    Villa Lewaro

    July 8, 2010

    Photographs of the Villa Lewaro, A’Lelia Walker’s country estate in Irvington-on-Hudson, New York, no date. A’Lelia Walker was well known during the...

  • Close Up

    July 6, 2010

    Photographs and film stills used to illustrate the pioneering film magazine Close Up (1927-1933), edited and published by writers and filmamkers Kenneth...
  • Book illustration.

    Fireworks

    July 2, 2010

    “Better be meek than be fragments in trying to be fireworks” - Marianne Moore