Brass Holiday Concert
The holidays take flight with the sounds of Brass! Enjoy a lively concert of festive favorites showcasing the superior acoustics of the Beinecke in a casual, family-friendly atmosphere. A Marble and Brass series concert.
General Public
Celebrating Dictionary Day 2025
The Beinecke Library and the New Haven Museum join forces again to celebrate Dictionary Day, with displays at the museum (114 Whitney Avenue) on Saturday, October 18, 12-4pm, and Beinecke Library (121 Wall Street) on Sunday, October 19, 1pm-4pm. This year, we are also joined by colleagues from the Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society, who will be at the Beinecke Library to share items and insights from their Webster collections.
Constitution Day Display
All are invited to a special display in the Beinecke Library reading room (121 Wall Street, New Haven) to mark Constitution Day, September 21, 2025, from 1pm to 4pm. This event commemorates the 238th anniversary of the signing of the United States Constitution by the members of the Constitutional Convention on September 17, 1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
2025 Mark Strand Memorial Reading by Natasha Trethewey
A reading by poet Natasha Trethewey. Natasha Trethewey served two terms as the 19th Poet Laureate of the United States (2012-2014).
Unfolding Creative Practice: Two Book Artists in Conversation
Please join us for an evening of exploration and conversation about artists’ books. In a moderated panel discussion, book artists Tia Blassingame and Maureen Cummins will discuss their creative careers and how collaboration, research, memory, and history inform and inspire their practices. Moderated by Jessica Pigza, co-curator of the Beinecke Exhibition, “Unfolding Events: Exploring Past and Present in Artists’ Books.”
Yale Collegium Musicum Concert
The Yale Collegium Musicum presents
Music, Morals and Philosophy:
Modes, Planet/gods, and the Power of Music in the Renaissance
Wednesday, November 19
4:30 Lecture 5:15 Concert
Yale Collegium Musicum Concert
The Yale Collegium Musicum presents
The Renaissance Musical Instrumentarium
Renaissance music for winds, strings, pipes, brass, and percussion
With special guest ensemble Piffaro, The Renaissance Band
Wednesday, September 24
Lecture 4:30 pm, concert 5:15 pm
Textured Stories: The Chirimen Books of Modern Japan
Chirimen-bon, or crêpe-paper books, were a type of Japanese illustrated book produced between the 1880s and the 1950s and made with textured, fabric-like paper. They came into existence alongside textbooks for Japanese learners of Western languages, and often served as souvenirs for Western visitors to Japan. They covered a wide range of Japan-related topics—fairy tales, folklore, cultural traditions, holidays, festivals, performing arts, and scenes from everyday life—in English, French, German, Spanish, Swedish, Russian, and other languages.
Unfolding Events: Exploring Past and Present in Artists’ Books
Artists’ books are a creative medium in which the conventional materials and approaches of book production—for instance paper and ink, graphically compelling combinations of illustration and text, and structures that invite exploration—are deployed and sometimes subverted to create tangible, interactive, surprising works of art.
Friday Introductory Tour of Beinecke Library
An introductory tour of the Beinecke Library, its mission, history, architecture, collections, and services, led by a library staff or student guide. Tours last approximately 45 minutes. Reservations are not required. Note: see the library’s website (beinecke.library.yale.edu) for other important visitor information.
A reminder the Beinecke Library’s ground floor and mezzanine public exhibition areas are always free and open to the public, seven days a week. See the library’s website for more information on hours and exhibitions and to explore the library online.
