A conversation with the co-curators of Beinecke’s latest exhibition: Roberta L. Dougherty, Yale Library’s librarian for Middle East studies, Özgen Felek, a lector of Ottoman in the department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, and Agnieszka Rec, curator at the Beinecke Library.
Zoom webinar registration link: https://bit.ly/3Q7CPTS
A special community day at the New haven Museum, 115 Whitney Avenue, will be held Saturday, February 15, 2025, offering tours and conversation around the New Haven Museum’s exhibition, “Shining Light on Truth: New Haven, Yale, and Slavery,” prior to its closing on Saturday, March 1, 2025. Presented by the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale Library, the exhibition highlights the essential role of enslaved and free Black people in New Haven and at Yale.
All are welcome the the opening reception for the new exhibition, Taught by the Pen: The World of Islamic Manuscripts. The reception is on Wednesday evening, February 26, from 5pm to 7pm. The exhibition is on view at Beinecke Library beginning on Monday, February 24, through August 10.
About the exhibition:
TThe Social Network (David Fincher, 2010, 35mm, 120 mins)
Basic Computer Terms (Sheldon Renan, 1976, DCP, 15 mins)
In the new book “Becoming Belle da Costa Greene: A Visionary Librarian through Her Letters” (Florence: I Tatti - The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies , 2024), Deborah Parker chronicles the making and empowerment of a female connoisseur, curator, and library director in a world where such positions were held by men. Belle da Costa Greene (1879–1950) was Pierpont Morgan’s personal librarian (1908–1913) and the first Director of the Morgan Library (1924–1948). She was also the daughter of two mixed-race parents and passed for white.
A discussion with the curatorial and design team for the exhibition, “Shining Light on Truth: New Haven, Yale, and Slavery,” on view through March 1 at the New Haven Museum. The exhibition opened nearly one year ago on February 16, 2024. It presents evidence of the essential role of enslaved and free Black people in New Haven and at Yale. It celebrates Black resistance and community building. And it illuminates knowledge kept alive in archives and memory for more than three centuries—even when the dominant culture chose to ignore, bury, or forget.
The Adrian Van Sinderen Lecture
An Autobiography in the Form of a Treasure Hunt: Book Collecting as Storytelling
Rebecca Romney
Have old family documents you want to keep safe for the future? Worried about losing your digital photos? Have boxes of stuff and aren’t sure where to start? Join archivist Jennifer Coggins from Yale’s Beinecke Library for an introduction to preserving the records and stories you want to pass on to future generations of your family and community. Learn strategies for deciding what to keep, preserving materials in different formats, and applying “archival thinking” in our day-to-day lives. Register by calling Creative Arts Workshop at (203) 562-4927.
A talk in conjunction with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra’s Connecticut premiere of Robert Nathaniel Dett’s “The Ordering of Moses” (in concert on Sunday, February 9, at 3pm in Woolsey Hall). The talk will include Nathaniel Gumbs, Director of Chapel Music at Yale University; Jason Max Ferdinand, Director of Choral Activities at the University of Maryland, College Park; and Perry So, Music Director of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra.
Zoom webinar registration link: https://bit.ly/3WjFjCk
Beinecke Library’s ongoing research project Shining Light on Truth: Early Black Students at Yale has identified and compiled brief profiles of nearly 240 Black students who attended Yale from the 1830s to 1940. Many of these students were involved in important civil rights work in New Haven, in their home cities, and on a national level. This Mondays at Beinecke talk, led by library staff, will explore the lives of several of these students and their contributions to the movement.
