Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library

10/21/2026

Dizzy Gillespie photographed by Carl Van Vechten with a painting by Karl Priebe. These photographs were taken on December 2, 1955.

Call number: JWJ MSS 1050

10/19/2026

A look at a genealogical roll describing the kings of England, starting with Adam and Eve. This was created ca. 1466-67 in England, and is written in Middle English.

Call number: Marston MS 242 1

10/18/2026

Proofs of illustrations and decoration for the Lakeside edition of "Moby-Dick" by Herman Melville, illustrated by Rockwell Kent. These are from ca. 1930.

Call number: 2023 Folio 19

10/16/2026

Eugene O'Neill's French driver's license, issued on June 9, 1928. The American playwright was born on this day in 1888. The Eugene O'Neill Collection was acquired by gift and purchase from various sources.

Call number: YCAL MSS 123

10/15/2026

The past and present of Beinecke Library.

10/14/2026

10/12/2026

A photograph of Peter Jones, also known as Waving Plume or Kahkewaquonaby, an Ojibwe author, Methodist minister, translator and chief. The photograph is from 1845 and is by David Hill and Robert Adamson. The photographs from the photoshoot and believed to be the first photographs ever taken of a person Indigenous to North America.

Call number: WA Photos Folio 4

10/11/2026

Documents relating to Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, including a playbill from the debut performance, production notes, and correspondence between August Wilson and Lloyd Richards. Call number: JWJ MSS 176

10/09/2026

10/09/2026

Happy 325! Today marks the date, October 9, 1701, when the governor and representatives of Connecticut gathered in New Haven in general court assembled. Their efforts in that session included the passage of an "Act for Liberty to Erect a Collegiate School" -- the first public announcement of the school that has become Yale University. Attached is the first page of that act, which describes how it is a place "wherein Youth may be instructed in the Arts & Sciences who thorough the blessing of Almighty God may be fitted for Publick employment both in Church & Civil State." If you are around New Haven this afternoon, pop into Beinecke for a public display of this 1701 chartering legislation and some other early documents of Yale.