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Newberry Library The Newberry is a library and a portal to more than six centuries of human history. Visit our website for exhibition and bookstore hours.
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Founded in 1887, the Newberry Library is one of Chicago's most iconic cultural institutions. Our collections, programs, and exhibitions are a portal to more than six centuries of human history, from the Middle Ages to the present. This history lives on at the Newberry, where you can access some 1.6 million books, 600,000 maps, and 5 million manuscript pages documenting life in Europe and the Americas. A small fraction of these treasures appear in the Newberry's exhibition galleries. We can help you discover the rest in our reading rooms.

**No tickets or reservations are required to visit the galleries or reading rooms.

**Hours listed are reading room hours.

Looking to expand your Chicago literary history curriculum?This essay and source set by Dr. Matthew Kilbane introduces t...
10/20/2026

Looking to expand your Chicago literary history curriculum?

This essay and source set by Dr. Matthew Kilbane introduces the Dil Pickle Club to teachers through poems, posters, and photographs. Founded by labor organizer Jack Jones, the club hosted everyone from Sherwood Anderson to Emma Goldman—and anyone else who had an opinion. Click the link to learn more: https://dcc.newberry.org/?p=25360

10/16/2026

On this day in history in 1834, the British Parliament burned down after officials tried to dispose of their archive of tally sticks through a controlled burn.

In this video, Jill Gage, Custodian of the John M. Wing Foundation on the History of Printing and Bibliographer for British Literature and History, explains that tally sticks are pieces of wood used to document bilateral exchanges and debts, and that people have used them worldwide since antiquity. Britain adopted tally sticks in the 12th century to record tax payments, debts, and royal finances because they prevented fraud. The tally system was so reliable that people used it until the 19th century.

Join us on Thursday, October 22, for our popular Writers on Writing series in partnership with StoryStudio Chicago. Awar...
10/15/2026

Join us on Thursday, October 22, for our popular Writers on Writing series in partnership with StoryStudio Chicago. Award-winning American author, Justin Torres ("We the Animals," "Blackouts") will join Rebecca Makkai ("I Have Some Questions for You," "The Great Believers") for this free public program. Perfect for readers and writers alike, these talks celebrate one author's work—a glimpse behind the creative curtain, a chance to ask questions, and an opportunity to celebrate the art of the written word. Recent books by both authors will be available to purchase in the Newberry Bookshop, and the authors will sign copies after the talk. Register for this event, available in-person and online, through the Newberry's website. Rebecca Makkai - Author StoryStudio Chicago

The Newberry Library is hosting a rare map and book fair in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the Chicago Map Soc...
10/15/2026

The Newberry Library is hosting a rare map and book fair in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the Chicago Map Society. Programming will include workshops on crafting with maps, speakers on topics including Kevin Mason on the history of maps of Iowa, and a guided tour of maps chosen by charter members of the Map Society. At least a dozen vendors from across the country will be on hand to showcase rare books, atlases, and related works on paper. Click the link to register for the event: https://www.newberry.org/calendar/rare-map-and-book-fair-2026

This year is the 150th anniversary of writer Sherwood Anderson's birth.Anderson, pictured above in a print by Hyde Man (...
10/14/2026

This year is the 150th anniversary of writer Sherwood Anderson's birth.

Anderson, pictured above in a print by Hyde Man (MS Anderson Box 118 Folder 3542), is best known for his 1919 short story collection, "Winesburg, Ohio," which became a late cornerstone of the first wave of the Chicago Literary Renaissance and a foundational Modernist text.

His papers reside at the Newberry Library and were pivotal in developing our Midwest Manuscript collections. Over the next few months, we will examine Anderson's life, friends, and works through the lens of his archive!

Last Friday, droves of ghostly Halloween enthusiasts haunted the library for Forbidden Newberry. Visitors pored over our...
10/09/2026

Last Friday, droves of ghostly Halloween enthusiasts haunted the library for Forbidden Newberry. Visitors pored over our spookiest collection items, ate creepy-crawly treats, and had their tarot cards read.

Special thanks to our sponsors Revolution Brewing and Maison Pasquale Chicago for providing b**r and w**e!

Applications are now open for Newberry Fellowships! The Newberry’s fellowship programs support scholarly, tribal, and ar...
10/06/2026

Applications are now open for Newberry Fellowships! The Newberry’s fellowship programs support scholarly, tribal, and artistic research in the Newberry collections. Follow the link to apply: https://www.newberry.org/research/fellowships

We are excited to announce that the Newberry's 2024 exhibition "Indigenous Chicago" has gotten a second life and is now ...
10/05/2026

We are excited to announce that the Newberry's 2024 exhibition "Indigenous Chicago" has gotten a second life and is now open at Gichigamiin Indigenous Nations Museum in Evanston!

"Indigenous Chicago" mixes archival materials from the Newberry's Ayer Indigenous Studies Collection and new works by Native artists like Camille Billie (Oneida/Diné), Jim Terry (Ho-Chunk), and Jason Wesaw (Pokagon Band of Potawatomi).

The exhibit was developed through five years of collaboration among the Newberry, tribal nations, and members of the Chicago Native community. Visitors will learn about the histories of the Potawatomi, Odawa, Ojibwe, Peoria, Kaskaskia, Myaamia, Wea, Sauk, Meskwaki, Ho-Chunk, Kickapoo, and Mascouten peoples, whose homelands include Chicago, and of the urban Native community that calls the city home today.

Learn more about "Indigenous Chicago" here: https://gichigamiin-museum.org/2026/09/14/indigenous-chicago/

Calling all Halloween heads! The Newberry's Bookshop has new spooky items in store to help you celebrate the spooky seas...
10/02/2026

Calling all Halloween heads! The Newberry's Bookshop has new spooky items in store to help you celebrate the spooky season in (gothic) style.

Need a spell-casting partner? For $28, our Plush Caldron will advise you in everything from eye of newt to wool of bat.

Planning on lending a book to a friend but definitely want it back? Pick up Eleanor Baker's "Book Curses" for $25 to learn how book owners across the ages have inscribed their books with curses and warnings to anyone who failed to return their tomes.

Piece together a puzzle featuring Edward Gorey's frightful scene of Dracula in Seward's Library for $19.99.

Stop by the shop or visit the online store to browse our full Halloween inventory: https://bookshop.newberry.org/?_gl=1*awsdhb*_ga*MTYzNDkxODExMy4xNzg5NDEyNDU0*_ga_2W9031YBFM*czE3OTA5NTQwODgkbzUkZzEkdDE3OTA5NTQzODUkajYwJGwwJGgw

Did you see Final Jeopardy on Friday? The category was Coinages of the 1980s, and the correct response was "What are Poe...
09/30/2026

Did you see Final Jeopardy on Friday? The category was Coinages of the 1980s, and the correct response was "What are Poetry Slams?" Only one contestant, Lydia, got it right. But it wasn't enough to beat Nikolas, who remained champion.

The Newberry acquired the Marc Kelly Smith Poetry Slam Collection this year and has been celebrating the history of the slam all year long. Friday's episode arrived the day before the first-ever World Poetry Slam Day, which took place on September 26.

Address

60 W Walton Street
Chicago, IL
60610

Opening Hours

Tuesday 10am - 4pm
Wednesday 10am - 4pm
Thursday 10am - 4pm
Friday 10am - 4pm
Saturday 10am - 4pm

Telephone

+13129439090

Website

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